The Greatest Philadelphia Eagles Players of All Time
What's a draft slot worth in a vote for the greatest Philadelphia Eagles players, when their 1936 pick, the NFL's first ever, never played a pro down? Every player here is named on at least 7 of the 16 Eagles honor rolls and all-time rankings counted for this list: the team's own Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the team's 75th Anniversary Team (2007), and thirteen press rankings. Players left off no more than five of the sources that could have named them start in the top group; everyone else who clears the door starts below them, and your votes set the order from there.
Chuck Bednarik is #1 on “The Greatest Philadelphia Eagles Players of All Time”.
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Chuck Bednarik
In the last seconds of the 1960 NFL Championship Game, Green Bay's Jim Taylor got to the Eagles 8, and he dropped Taylor there and lay on top of him until the clock ran out on a 17-13 Philadelphia win. That afternoon he played 58 minutes, at center and at linebacker, in the 12th of his 14 Eagles seasons, which began when Philadelphia chose him first overall in 1949 and ended in 1962. A rookie on the 1949 champions, he went to 8 Pro Bowls, was the last of the NFL's 60-minute men, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame picked him in 1967, as soon as the rules allowed. He's on 14 of the 15 sources able to name him, because Sports Illustrated's 2020 top 10 drew from the Super Bowl era, 1967 on, after his last game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Bednarik - 2
Brian Dawkins
In Week 4 of 2002 against Houston he had a sack, an interception, 2 pass deflections, and then a 57-yard touchdown catch when Brian Mitchell shoveled him the ball on a fake punt, in a 35-17 Eagles win. That was his 7th year at safety for Philadelphia, which had picked him 61st in 1996, and he stayed until 2008. Over those 13 seasons he made 7 of his Pro Bowl trips and was named to 4 All-Pro first teams, his 183 Eagles games were a club record when he left, and all 16 counted sources name him. The January 2005 NFC title win over Atlanta brought his hit on tight end Alge Crumpler and an interception of Michael Vick, and in 2018 the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Dawkins - 3
Reggie White
On September 29, 1985, in his first game for Philadelphia, he made 10 tackles and 2.5 sacks against the Giants, though the Eagles lost 16-10 in overtime, and his coach, Marion Campbell, said he came in and pretty much took over. He had arrived in Week 4 after a spring season with the USFL's Memphis Showboats, and his Eagles years ran from 1985 through 1992. That first autumn brought 13 sacks in 13 games and the NFC's award for its top defensive rookie. In 1987, a season cut to 12 games, he had 21 sacks, an NFL regular-season record 1.75 a game, and he was All-Pro, first team, every season from 1986 through 1991. He's named on 16 of the 16 sources, the Eagles' own Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame included.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_White - 4
Donovan McNabb
Down to 4th-and-26 against Green Bay in the 2003 season's divisional playoff, he found Freddie Mitchell for the first down, and the Eagles won 20-17 in overtime. Philadelphia spent the 2nd overall pick of 1999 on him while a group of fans booed, having wanted Ricky Williams, and he was the Eagles' quarterback through 2009. In 2004 he threw 31 touchdown passes against 8 interceptions, the first quarterback in league history over 30 and under 10, then threw for 357 yards in a 24-21 Super Bowl XXXIX loss to New England. Under him the Eagles reached 5 NFC Championship Games, he was picked for 6 Pro Bowls, and he left as the franchise leader in passing yards, touchdowns, attempts and completions. He appears on 15 of the 16 sources, missing from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donovan_McNabb - 5
Harold Carmichael
The 1973 receiving title was his: 67 catches for 1,116 yards, both league highs, in his 3rd season. At 6 ft 8 he was a 7th-round find, 161st overall in 1971, and his Eagles career lasted until 1983. In 1980 his streak of games with a catch ran to 127, then an NFL record, in a season that ended in Super Bowl XV, and the NFL chose him as its 1980 Man of the Year. He went to 4 Pro Bowls, has 15 of the 16 sources behind him, and held the Eagles' career marks for receptions, yards and receiving touchdowns by the end of his time there, though the Pro Football Hall of Fame waited until 2020 to elect him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Carmichael - 6
Randall Cunningham
Against Buffalo in 1990, standing in the Eagles' end zone with Bruce Smith closing from his blind side, he ducked and threw 60 yards to Fred Barnett, and the play went for a 95-yard touchdown. He was the first quarterback off the board in 1985, 37th overall to Philadelphia, and he stayed an Eagle through 1995. That 1990 season he ran for 942 yards, second most ever by a quarterback at the time, threw 30 touchdown passes and was the PFWA's Most Valuable Player. The 1988, 1989 and 1990 Pro Bowls all had him; he tore an ACL in the 1991 opener at Green Bay, and he was the league's comeback player for 1992. He also punted 91 yards against the Giants in 1989, the longest punt in team history. Of the 16 sources, 13 name him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Cunningham - 7
Jason Peters
Buffalo signed him undrafted out of Arkansas in 2004 and traded him to Philadelphia in April 2009. Philadelphia had him at tackle until 2020; 7 Pro Bowl invitations arrived there, and All-Pro selectors put him on their 2011 and 2013 first teams. Between those came a lost year: he ruptured his Achilles tendon in a March 2012 workout and again that May, and in 2013 he lined up at left tackle for all 16 games and made the first team again. A torn ACL and MCL against Washington on October 23, 2017, ended his season, though he got a Super Bowl LII ring. He's on 10 of the 14 sources that could have named him, since he is not yet eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the 2007 anniversary team was picked 2 years before he arrived.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Peters - 8
Tommy McDonald
Listed at 5 ft 9, a 1957 3rd-round pick, he played flanker in Philadelphia until 1963, with Pro Bowl nods for 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962. His 1,144 receiving yards and 13 touchdown catches in 1961 were both league highs, and he had topped the NFL in scoring catches once before, with 9 in 1958. In the 17-13 title win over Green Bay that closed 1960, he caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Norm Van Brocklin. The writer Ray Didinger helped get him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998 and presented him there. He was also the last non-kicker to play in the NFL without a facemask, and 10 of the 15 sources that could have named him do, as Sports Illustrated's 2020 ranking began its count with the Super Bowl era in 1967.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_McDonald_(American_football) - 9
Steve Van Buren
Snow was falling on the morning of the 1948 title game, so he went back to bed until Greasy Neale phoned. He reportedly rode 3 trolleys and walked 6 blocks to Shibe Park, then scored on a 5-yard run in the 4th quarter, the touchdown that decided a 7-0 win over the Chicago Cardinals, in his 5th Eagles season of 8, 1944 to 1951. The 5th overall pick in 1944, he took 4 NFL rushing titles, in 1945 and 1947 to 1949, and a year after the blizzard he carried 31 times for 196 yards, setting the title-game rushing mark. His career totals for carries, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns were all NFL records at his retirement. He's named on 9 of 15 sources, with Sports Illustrated's 2020 list unable to name him because it opened with 1967.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Van_Buren - 10
Jason Kelce
Philadelphia found him with the 191st pick in 2011 and had him at center for 13 seasons, through 2023: 193 games, all of them starts. In 2017 he started all 16 of the Eagles' games, earned his first All-Pro first-team spot and was PFF's run blocker of the year, and the season ended in Super Bowl LII, a 41-33 win against New England. The All-Pro voters named him their first-team center 5 more times, in 2018, 2019 and 2021 to 2023, and he was picked for 7 Pro Bowls; after that Super Bowl he gave the parade speech in a Mummers costume. Of the 14 sources able to include him, 8 do: he is not yet eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and fans voted the 75th Anniversary Team in 2007, 4 years before his debut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Kelce - 11
Eric Allen
Taken 30th overall in 1988, he covered receivers for Philadelphia until 1994, and his signature afternoon came on October 3, 1993, at the Jets: with Randall Cunningham out injured and on crutches and the Eagles behind 30-28, he picked off Boomer Esiason and returned it 94 yards for the winning score, 35-30, then handed the ball to Cunningham. NFL Films' Steve Sabol called it the "Greatest Interception Return in NFL History." That season he returned 4 interceptions for touchdowns, a total that tied the NFL's season mark at that time. He made the 1989 All-Pro first team at cornerback, then the 1991 and 1993 second teams, and in 1995 the Eagles let him go to New Orleans rather than match an offer sheet. Each of the 16 sources was open to him, and 10 picked him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Allen - 12
Brian Westbrook
Late in the 4th quarter against the Giants on October 19, 2003, he took a punt back for the touchdown that won it 14-10, a win that started the Eagles toward that season's NFC title game. A Villanova product the Eagles took 91st overall in 2002, he was in his 2nd season that day and stayed in their backfield through 2009. In 2007 nobody in the NFL matched his 2,104 yards from scrimmage, 1,333 of them on the ground, and his 90 catches were then a franchise record; he was also that year's first-team All-Pro running back. He earned Pro Bowl berths in 2004 and 2007, and in the playoffs on January 7, 2007, he ran for 141 yards on 20 carries against the Giants, a career playoff high. 9 of the 16 sources include him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Westbrook - 13
Pete Pihos
In World War II he served under George Patton and won a battlefield commission, the Bronze Star and the Silver Star. The Eagles used him at end for 9 seasons, 1947 through 1955. His 31-yard touchdown catch in a downpour came in the 1949 title game, the second of 2 straight championships, and of the 15 sources that could have named him, 8 do; Sports Illustrated's 2020 top 10 took its players from 1967 on, the Super Bowl era. In 1952 the team moved him to defensive end, and the AP's All-Pro first team listed him at that position; in 1953, back on offense, he was the NFL's leader in catches, yards and touchdowns, 63, 1,049 and 10, and his Pro Football Hall of Fame election came in 1970.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Pihos - 14
Troy Vincent
In 1996 the Dolphins declined to match Philadelphia's 5-year, $16.5 million offer sheet for him, and cornerback was his position in Philadelphia through 2003. In his first Eagles season, against Dallas, James Willis intercepted Troy Aikman, ran 14 yards and pitched the ball to him, and he went the last 90 yards for a 104-yard touchdown with 12 seconds left, which matched the club's longest interception return at the time. From 1999 to 2003 he went to every Pro Bowl, his 7 interceptions in 1999 were his career high, and he was 2002's first-team All-Pro choice at corner. In 2002 he was also the NFL's Man of the Year, the honor named for Walter Payton, and he later served as NFLPA president from 2004 to 2008. Of 16 sources in all, 9 name him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Vincent - 15
Fletcher Cox
Philadelphia traded up from 15th to 12th in the 2012 draft to get him, and he anchored the middle of its defensive line through 2023. In a Week 5 game against New Orleans in 2015 his 3 sacks were a career high, and he caused 2 fumbles and was named the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week. That fall began a string of 6 Pro Bowl seasons running to 2020, and the 2018 All-Pro first team included him. All 70 of his NFL sacks came in an Eagles uniform. He's on 7 of the 13 sources that could have named him, because he is not yet eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the 2007 anniversary team came before his time, and Bleacher Report's ranking, dated by its contents to the 2012 offseason, came before his first game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher_Cox - 16
Seth Joyner
Running a 102-degree fever on a Monday night at the Astrodome on December 2, 1991, he made 8 solo tackles, forced 2 fumbles, recovered 2 more and had 2 sacks in a 13-6 win over Houston. Philadelphia had cut him from its 1986 training camp as an 8th-round rookie, then re-signed him that season, and linebacker was his spot for the Eagles until 1993. For 1991, Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated named him the NFL's Player of the Year, the AP's defensive voting had him second, and his name was on the second All-Pro team that year and again in 1992. 8 of the 16 sources list him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Joyner - 17
Bill Bergey
In 1974, his first Eagles season, he intercepted 5 passes and had 3.5 sacks, and All-Pro selectors had the middle linebacker on the first team that season and in 1975. Cincinnati had traded him to Philadelphia that July, and he stayed through 1980, with second-team All-Pro selections from 1976 to 1978 and Pro Bowls in 1974 and from 1976 to 1978. He hurt his knee badly in 1979 and came back for 1980 guessing he was at about 65 percent, then played all 16 games, and The Sporting News named him All-NFC. That team beat Dallas 20-7 for the NFC title, and Super Bowl XV was the last game he played. He once made 233 tackles in one season, 7 of the 16 sources carry him, and the Eagles' Hall of Fame inducted him with its 1988 class.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bergey - 18
LeSean McCoy
Over 8.5 inches of snow fell during the Detroit game on December 8, 2013, and he ran for 217 yards, scoring twice in a 34-20 win. He carried for Philadelphia from 2009 through 2014, and in 2011 his 17 rushing touchdowns led the league and broke team records that had stood since 1945. In 2013 his 1,607 rushing yards, again an NFL high, beat a team record that had stood 34 years, and in both seasons the All-Pro lists put him at back on their first team. He left in 2015 as the Eagles' career rushing leader, 6,792 yards, 6 years after they drafted him 53rd overall out of Pitt. Of the 15 sources that could have named him, 7 name him; the 2007 vote for the 75th Anniversary Team came 2 years before his debut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeSean_McCoy - 19
Clyde Simmons
His 19 sacks in 1992 led the NFL in his 7th Eagles season. He held down defensive end in Philadelphia from 1986 through 1993, the Pro Bowl called him up after the 1991 season and again after 1992, he entered the Eagles Hall of Fame in 2018, and he shows up on 7 of the 16 sources. In a 28-14 win over Washington on November 12, 1990, the game later called the Body Bag Game, he returned a fumble 18 yards for a touchdown. In 1991 three-fourths of the Eagles' starting defensive line, him included, were first-team All-Pros, and the defense gave up fewer passing, rushing and total yards than any other in the league, though the team missed the playoffs at 10-6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Simmons - 20
Jerome Brown
As a 1987 rookie at defensive tackle he had 4 sacks, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery, and the PFWA named him to its All-Rookie Team. His Eagles years, 1987 to 1991, added up to 29.5 sacks over 76 games, spots on the 1990 and 1991 All-Pro first teams and Pro Bowls in both of those seasons, with his name appearing on 7 of the 16 sources. He died on June 25, 1992, at 27, when his Corvette crashed in Brooksville, Florida, 5 years after the Eagles drafted him 9th overall out of the University of Miami. Before the first game of the 1992 season, on September 6 at Veterans Stadium, the Eagles retired his No. 99, and players and fans took up the line "Bring it home for Jerome."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Brown - 21
David Akers
On the opening kickoff against Oakland on September 25, 2005, he tore the hamstring in his non-kicking leg, returned for the second half with it heavily taped, and kicked the 28-yard field goal that won the game before he collapsed. That came in his 7th of 12 seasons as the Eagles' kicker, 1999 through 2010. He made 17 field goals in a row in 2001, a team record then; in 2008 his 144 points set what was then the club's single-season scoring mark. Over those Philadelphia seasons he was invited to 5 Pro Bowls, took the 2001 All-Pro first-team kicking spot, and later made the 2000s All-Decade squad as its second-team kicker. Out of 16 sources, 7 hold a place for him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Akers
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