Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Oren Burks isn’t a household name. He played just 14% of defensive snaps this season. He’s an above-average special teams player who’s made a pretty good living playing pro football. But, in Super Bowl LIX, he may do something just four players in the league’s history have done.
If Burks starts the game on Sunday, he’ll be just the fifth player in NFL history to start a Super Bowl for different teams in consecutive years.
“That’s been my whole career, just trying to find a way to add value. And that’s whether it’s on [special] teams, whether it’s on defense, being a great locker room guy, being a great leader, just embracing that.”
Burks’s career has been on special teams for his seven years in the league. He only gets on the field on defense when a teammate gets hurt. Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean went down with a torn patellar tendon in Philadelphia’s Wild Card win over Green Bay.
Philadelphia signed Burks in the offseason to add depth to their linebacker room. When training camp started, Burks did a lot of watching. He got very few opportunities on the field because he was recovering from a knee injury. The Eagles cut him at the end of camp.
Burks joined the practice squad after no other teams were interested in signing him.
“I had one or two practices and then the last preseason game and that was my resumé,” Burks said. “I really just believed in this locker room and wanted to be here and wanted to prove that I should be here.” – Oren Burks to the Philadelphia Enquirer
Last season Burks was a member of the Super Bowl bound San Francisco 49ers. In the regular season he played 34% of defensive snaps which was a career high for him. The Niners Dre Greenlaw suffered an Achilles injury in the Super Bowl, so it was Burks’ turn.
Burks got torched. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed nine of nine passes against him including a touchdown. Covering Travis Kelce is something very few players can do
Just four men have started consecutive Super Bowls with different teams. Oren Burks will join that small club if he starts the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Brandon Browner started for the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII and for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. Chris Long started for the Patriots in Super Bowl LI and for the Eagles in Super Bowl LII and LeGarrette Blount: Started for the Patriots in Super Bowl LI and for the Eagles in Super Bowl LII
Deion Sanders did it too, but he was the only player to win both games. Sanders won Super Bowl XXIX with the San Francisco 49ers in 1994 and Super Bowl XXX with the Dallas Cowboys in 1995
“The season has a lot of ebbs and flows,” Burks told the Philadelphia Enquirer. “But this is the big one that you’ve been preparing for your whole life,”
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