Zack Baun’s storybook season with the Eagles concludes with a Super Bowl INT and championship
Baun picked off Patrick Mahomes for one of three Chiefs turnovers, and the rout was on for the Eagles, who had found gold with a bargain-bin signing of the former New Orleans Saint.
NEW ORLEANS — With a cigar in hand, as his teammates sprayed champagne around him, Zack Baun sat in his locker as he watched the ongoing celebration. It was a lot to take in. A year ago this time, he was a free agent, fresh off a lackluster season with the Saints, the team that drafted him.
Now, he was celebrating a Super Bowl win with his Eagles teammates, after signing a one-year deal in March. Baun had something to prove and he did that, and more; with the Saints, his role changed over time and he played only sparingly.
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It was not an easy four years. Baun told Yahoo Sports that sometimes, after games, he’d go home and cry. He felt like he was letting himself and the organization down. But with the Eagles, he found the role he’d been looking for — inside linebacker — and a scheme that suited him.
He went from playing 15% of his defensive snaps in four years with the Saints to 95% this season with the Eagles. He finished his season as a Defensive Player of the Year finalist, and had himself a game on Sunday night, in his former home stadium.
Baun intercepted a Patrick Mahomes pass in the second quarter at the Chiefs’ 14-yard line. He said after the game that that scenario — a pass over the middle — was one he works on with his linebacker coaches all the time.
“I felt it behind me, and then I got to quarterback vision,” he said. “I couldn’t feel him behind me but then just broke on the ball, quarterback eyes, just had to catch it.”
Two players later, the Eagles scored a touchdown to extend their lead to 24-0.
Baun didn’t have many words to describe the serendipity of having all of this happen in New Orleans, the city where he once struggled to find his identity as a player. But it was a poetic ending to a tough few years.
“It’s crazy,” Baun said. “It’s wild. I don’t think I could have written a better story than this. I mean, grinding it out in New Orleans for four years, to come in here and doing this with this team, it’s so special.
“The best I can say is just keep going, through tough times, through good times. You’ve got to be stoic through it all. Embrace the journey and not focus on the result.”
It’s unclear what the future holds for Baun and the Eagles. He will be a free agent again and is expected to get a hefty contract this offseason. But on Sunday night, his focus wasn’t on that. It was to soak in every part of the celebration — champagne and all.
“[It was] a wild year that needs to be documented for sure,” Baun said. “Maybe I’ll write a little book on it because it’s been crazy. From my son being born in April and moving to Philly three weeks later and getting to know the guys, the city, and moving my family.
“A lot of ups and downs, but the team and the guys embraced me and my family and just made us feel really comfortable. And accolades, personal accolades, with the Super Bowl being the biggest and the most meaningful one.”