Jalen Hurts didn’t just fall short of winning a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles last season — he also had to deal with the loss of key teammates to injury, including one who’s now turning to an unconventional method to make his comeback.
The player is Nakobe Dean, who revealed in a report by Matt DeLucia for NBC Philadelphia that he’s been practicing ballet to help with the final stages of his recovery from a knee injury suffered during last season with the Eagles.
“I’m not interested in ballet, I’m in it for the mobility work and the stretching,” Dean said. “I’m more interested in the performance, looking at it… but I’m a football player through and through,” said the linebacker, who played a key role in the Eagles’ deep run alongside Hurts last year.
So how exactly can ballet help Dean?
According to Keelan Whitmore, director of the ballet school where Dean has been training, the exercises and routines are designed to improve the linebacker’s overall muscle development and enhance his muscle memory.
Nakobe Dean #17 of the Philadelphia Eagles is carted off after sustaining an injury in the second quarter of a game against the Green Bay Packers during the NFC Wild Card Playoff at Lincoln Financial Field on January 12, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Any sort of cross-training is good for his muscle memory, his muscle build-up,” Whitmore told NBC Philadelphia. “Anything that is going in one direction — if he goes against that grain — then he’s going to be even stronger and more agile.”
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Dean is determined to return to the Eagles better than ever
“My whole thing is trying to be the absolute best version of myself. For me, that’s greatness,” Dean said. “If I’m striving to be that every day, and doing whatever it takes to be that.” The linebacker still has one year remaining on his NFL contract with the Eagles and is due $1.6 million.
