Free Agent Facts: Get to know LB Nakobe Dean

The Las Vegas Raiders add a national champion and Super Bowl winner to their roster with linebacker Nakobe Dean.

Here are a few things to know about the Raiders' latest acquisition.

Big dog

Nakobe Dean was exceptional, on and off the field, during his time at the University of Georgia.

The five-star prospect from Mississippi committed to the Bulldogs and immediately made an impact as a freshman, playing in 14 games en route to a 12-2 season and a Sugar Bowl victory over Baylor. With 25 total tackles and two pass deflections, he was the co-recipient of the team's Defensive Newcomer of the Year award.

He became a household name in college football by his junior season, with 10.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, six pass deflections and two interceptions in 2021. That season, he won the Butkus Award, given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football, while also being named First-Team All-SEC and an unanimous All-American. Additionally, he helped lead the Bulldogs to their first national championship since 1980 with a 33-18 victory over Alabama.

He was also a top scholar at Georgia, as the mechanical engineering major was named the 2022 Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Sports Scholar of the Year. He was also a recipient of the Ramsey Scholarship for Academic & Athletic Excellence.

Proven winner

Dean's winning pedigree goes beyond his collegiate national championship in college as he won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in his third season in the league.

The 2022 third-round pick missed 12 games his sophomore campaign with a foot injury before exploding as the team's starting linebacker in 2024. In 15 games played, he accumulated 80 solo tackles, four pass deflections and two fumble recoveries.

A vital piece of a dominant Eagles defense that went 14-3 in the regular season, Dean tore the patellar tendon in his left knee in their Wild Card game against the Green Bay Packers. He missed the rest of their playoff run and wasn't activated until Week 6 of the 2025 season.

Dancing back to form

Following his major knee injury, the linebacker turned to a timeless art form to help his recovery process.

Dean started doing ballet while ramping up to return to the field last season. He attributed ballet to helping him become lighter on his feet and giving him added flexibility.

"There's way more flexibility, of course. Way more mobility," Dean told NBC Philadelphia. "It's definitely something that's helping with my rehab."

"You just feel a change immediately. After you stretch, you're not as tight or as sore," he added.

Ballet is not a foreign training concept for football players, dating back to Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann and his acrobatic style of play. And the ballet seemed to work for Dean, as he hit career highs in 2025 in quarterback sacks (four), quarterback pressures (nine) and forced fumbles (two) despite only appearing in 10 games.

See ball, get ball

What's made Dean so effective as an off-ball linebacker is not just his ability to stop the run, but blitz the quarterback as well.

In his last two seasons, he's racked up seven sacks and 15 quarterback pressures. Per Next Gen Stats, his 40.7 quarterback pressure percentage was the highest on the Eagles in 2025 (min. 20 pass rush snaps).