Zack Baun is officially a two-time member of the NFL’s most exclusive club. The Philadelphia Eagles linebacker checked in at No. 45 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026 list, the league’s annual player-voted ranking, continuing a run that started with a breakout 2024 season.
The reveal came Wednesday, with Baun sliding in alongside 49ers tight end George Kittle as the list continued its daily rollout. It’s Baun’s second straight appearance on the Top 100, and Inside the Iggles noted he now joins Jalen Hurts and Quinyon Mitchell as the only Eagles confirmed on the list so far this cycle.
No. 45 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026…@Eagles LB Zack Baun! @NFLFilms pic.twitter.com/VUd3Bketx6
— NFL (@NFL) July 29, 2026
The number itself tells a mixed story. Baun ranked No. 26 last year off a monster 2024 campaign — 151 tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception and five forced fumbles, good enough for a Pro Bowl nod, first-team All-Pro honors and a fifth-place finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting. This year’s slot, 19 spots lower, reflects a step back in the box score rather than a step back in impact.
What Baun’s 2025 Season Actually Looked Like
Numbers don’t collapse just because a ranking drops. Baun still played all 16 games and produced across the board: 123 tackles, seven pass deflections, seven tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. That was enough to land him his second straight Pro Bowl selection.
Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, cited by Bleacher Report, Baun was the only player in the entire NFL last season with at least 120 tackles and 10 “disrupted dropbacks” — a combined tally of sacks, interceptions and batted or defended passes. That’s not a compiler stat. That’s a defender doing damage two or three different ways on the same drive.
| Season | Top 100 Rank | Tackles | Sacks | INTs | Forced Fumbles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | No. 26 | 151 | 3.5 | 1 | 5 |
| 2025 | No. 45 | 123 | 3.5 | 2 | 1 |
Why the Ranking Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
Vic Fangio’s defense doesn’t ask Baun to do one thing. He blitzes off the edge on early downs, then drops into coverage deep enough to pick off a pass on the next series. That kind of role rarely maxes out a single stat category, which is exactly why a raw tackle-count dip can look like decline on a spreadsheet without being decline on the field.
Baun is also part of a defensive group that’s stacking Top 100 nods early. Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell landed at No. 47, giving Philadelphia multiple defenders already on the board with the list barely past its halfway point.
What’s Next for Baun and the Eagles
Philadelphia is chasing a sixth straight playoff appearance in 2026, and Baun remains one of the defensive pieces the coaching staff builds around. The Top 100 reveal itself isn’t finished — the countdown continues daily through NFL.com and NFL+ before the top 10 players are unveiled the week of August 24.
