Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun like to compare their roles in the Eagles defense to an eraser. One day after the Eagles doubled down on the starting inside linebacker duo by releasing Devin White, Dean acknowledged that the pair can cover for the rest of the defense if they play at a high level consistently.

The Eagles linebacker had been with the first unit to begin every training camp practice. But about a week before the Eagles' season opener last Friday against the Packers, both head coach Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had informed White that Nakobe Dean would be starting next to Zack Baun instead.

But White suffered an ankle injury just before the Eagles left for Brazil for the season opener. After the Eagles returned, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio confirmed that Dean had surpassed White on the depth chart. Since White didn't play special teams, he was not on the game-day roster for Weeks 2 and 3.