Eagles’ Vic Fangio knew Zack Baun could play inside linebacker

The Eagles appear to have the NFL free-agency bargain of the year in linebacker Zack Baun, but very few could have seen this is coming.

However, Vic Fangio saw something that others may have missed. When Howie Roseman signed the former New Orleans Saints pass rusher and special teams ace, he figured the Eagles would have a cheap and useful backup outside linebacker who would contribute on special teams. The general manager said the same thing to Fangio, the defensive coordinator the Eagles hired six weeks before signing Baun.

Fangio thought there was more. It was similar to how Fangio convinced Andrew Van Ginkel last season in Miami that there was more to his game than just being an edge rusher.

“When I’m evaluating players, there’s no check box, things to check off,” Fangio said Tuesday. “You just watch the tape, watch the movement patterns, watch the player play.

“After I saw (the tape), I said I think he’s an inside linebacker. Luckily, it hit.”

Have it ever. Fangio said earlier this season that it’s hard to play a good defense in the NFL without getting good linebacker play. Ask the eagles of the past how true that sounds. This year has apparently been a 180 with Baun and Nakobe Dean.

How good has Baun been?

Pro Football Focus grades aren’t gospel, but Baun ranks second among NFL linebackers in pass coverage behind three-time All-Pro Fred Warner of the San Francisco 49ers.

Baun stuffed the stat sheet in Sunday’s win at Dallas, forcing two fumbles and recovering another. It came a week after his lone interception of the 2024 season. Through 10 weeks, Baun is 11th in the NFL and first on the Eagles with 87 tackles, and all but one of the 10 players above him on the list have yet to have their bye week.

Not a bad use of $1.6 million.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Zack Baun, ‘a superstar, mega-athlete,’ continues to grow as NFL linebacker

Hunt’s improvement and Huff’s injury

Rookie edge rusher Jalyx Hunt saw his biggest snap numbers with 25 on Sunday (42%), thanks mostly to the Eagles resting their starters during the blowout win and also due to Bryce Huff’s wrist injury.

Fangio said Hunt has improved in practice and has earned more snaps. He saw the field Sunday before Huff, but that may be mostly because the veteran, who has thus far struggled to live up to his $51.1 million deal, has dealt with the injury in the past two games.

“He’s got a big cast on his hand, leaves the thumb completely immobilized, and his palm is really immobilized,” Fangio said. “So he’s just got four fingers dangling there with no thumb or palm to help him. On the less obvious downs, it just makes sense to put a guy in there that’s 100%.”

» READ MORE: Jalyx Hunt has proven to be a quick study. Could more playing time be on the way for the rookie?

Jim Mora’s impact on the tackle

The Eagles missed 16 tackles, according to Next Gen Stats, when they were hit during their Week 4 loss at Tampa Bay. Nick Sirianni said the next day that one of the deep dives during the bye would be figuring out how the Eagles could get better at tackling, an issue that plagued them during their 2-2 start.

Fangio decided to go back 40 years to something he learned when he first started coaching professional football in 1984.

“I had an old coach when I first started in pro ball who said if you stress something, you have a chance to get it,” Fangio said. “That’s what happened there. Plus, we’ve been playing better overall and the ball hasn’t been in the open field as much.”

Who was that coach?

“A guy named Jim Mora,” Fangio said.

Mora, of course, won 125 NFL games, but he was the coach of the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars when he hired Fangio.

“Jim, to me, is one of the most underrated, great coaches in the league,” Fangio said. “He just never did much in the playoffs, never quite had the overall team to go far, but a damn good coach and a guy I always looked up to.”

» READ MORE: Truths from a Phillies diehard: Vic Fangio, grizzly Eagles DC and baseball traditionalist, plays it straight

Sun at AT&T Stadium

Two days after an argument about how the sun affects playing conditions inside his billion dollar mega stadium, Jerry Jones doubled Tuesday on a Dallas radio stationand said he thinks the sun shining on the field is part of the home field advantage.

It certainly doesn’t seem like one.

On Tuesday, Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was asked about the sun. Moore was on the Dallas roster as the backup quarterback from 2015-17, making two starts. He was then the quarterbacks coach and later the offensive coordinator until the 2022 season ended.

“Stadiums all have different circumstances,” Moore said. “This one, of course, the sun plays a decent role. You just have to call plays according to it, knowing certain parts of the field can be a little bit challenging at times.”