Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
NEW ORLEANS \u2014 More than 160 fellow free agents secured bigger contracts last offseason than the one that Zack Baun signed with the Eagles.<\/p>\n
And yet Baun is one of five finalists for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
Baun left New Orleans in March as a bit player over four years with the Saints and returned Monday night as a game-wrecker responsible for getting the Eagles into Super Bowl 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cComfortable, good to be back,\u201d Baun said Monday during Opening Night, \u201cbut it\u2019s only special if we win this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Saints wanted Baun so badly during the third round of the 2020 draft that they traded a future third-rounder just to swap picks and move up 14 spots. And then he was treated like a player without a position and turned into a core member of special teams.<\/p>\n
So, it was a little head-scratching when the Eagles prioritized signing Baun to a one-year, $3.5 million deal on the first day of free agency last season \u2014 hours after poaching Saquon Barkley and Bryce Huff out of New York for multiyear, big-money contracts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was role player here in New Orleans,\u201d Baun said, \u201cbut the thing is I just kept working and working and working and knew that it\u2019s about the circumstances sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Baun, 28, looks like the NFL\u2019s best bargain thanks in part to defensive coordinator Vic Fangio\u2019s decision to turn Baun into a full-time inside linebacker instead of a part-time edge rusher. At least until he reaches free agency again next month and is projected by Pro Football Focus to cash in on a three-year, $39 million contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone wants to be wanted in some capacity,\u201d Baun said. \u201cThat was the Eagles for me. Vic had a plan for me from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n
In four seasons with the Saints, Baun tallied 88 tackles, two sacks and one interception in 14 starts over 64 games. In one season with the Eagles, Baun rang up 151 tackles, five forced fumbles, four passes defended, one interception and 3.5 sacks in 16 games and starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was never frustrated,\u201d Baun said. \u201cPartially because that\u2019s on me. My slow development and transition from position to position. But I just trusted the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baun added another forced fumble and fumble recovery when the Eagles defeated the Commanders in the NFC Championship game. <\/p>\n
His knack for stripping the ball is the reason that Eagles stalwart Brandon Graham \u2014 who made the decisive play in the 2018 Super Bowl \u2014 picked Baun to make the biggest play Sunday from all options surrounding him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat boy, I expect him to go out and give me everything he\u2019s got,\u201d Graham said, \u201cbecause that\u2019s what he shows in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baun collected his first piece of hardware for his breakthrough season last week, when his fellow linebackers surprised him with the Butkus Award for the NFL\u2019s best linebacker at a small dinner.<\/p>\n
Next up? He earned his spot next to T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett \u2014 both of whom are on Hall of Fame tracks \u2014 on the Defensive Player of the Year podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really cool to be even mentioned with those guys,\u201d Baun said. \u201cIt\u2019s a credit to a lot of people \u2026 I couldn\u2019t do it without.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic NEW ORLEANS \u2014 More than 160 fellow free agents secured bigger contracts last offseason than the one that Zack Baun signed with the Eagles. And yet Baun is one of five finalists for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Baun left New Orleans in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":192851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-192850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192852,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192850\/revisions\/192852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}