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Any player in the NFL dreams of leaving a legacy for fans and other players to chase after. Not everyone is capable, but we’ve seen players on different NFL franchises do it time and time again, regardless of their position. Of course, to be mentioned as one of the best, you need to showcase consistency and high quality, which only several players on each team are truly capable of.
In this article, we’ll outline five of the greatest Philadelphia Eagles players to ever play on the team, including when they played, their position and how impactful they were on the Eagles.
Retiring in 2024 is one of the few legendary Eagles defensemen known as Fletcher Cox. Cox would start his NFL career at 22 years old and play through the entirety of it as a defensive end and tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles. He’d accumulated 188 games played for the team while boasting 14 career fumble recoveries and 351 solo tackles.
Of those 14 fumbles, he’d recover 3 for touchdowns, making him a lethal defenseman even on the attack. After over a decade of dedication to one team, Fletcher Cox easily cements himself as one of the greatest players in Eagles history.
Following up on Fletcher Cox is teammate Jason Kelce, also playing for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2011 to 2023 and retiring in 2024. After playing 193 total games as the starting center, Kelce would have exceptional stats to boast, including 7 fumble recoveries for his team.
Ever wonder how many snaps a dedicated center accumulates? After 12 seasons, Kelce snapped the ball 12,002 times, making him the most experienced Philadelphia Eagles snapper ever. Due to his consistency and constant contribution to the team, Jason Kelce is considered one of the greatest players to join Philadelphia.
In the decade before Kelce and Cox took up the mantle, Brian Dawkins made massive contributions to the team as the free safety for 16 straight seasons. He’d rarely fail to miss a game, playing for a career total of 224 (183 for the Eagles) across 16 years of play. If you wonder why Dawkins is on the list of greatest Eagles players, just listen to his stats.
He recorded 37 interceptions on defense for a total of 515 yards, forced 32 fumbles on the opposing team, recovered 16 fumbles, sacked an opposing QB a total of 21 times and ended his career with a whopping 723 solo tackles all for the Eagles, so it’s no wonder why he’s considered one of the best, if not the best safety to ever play on the team.
Playing during a similar timeframe as Dawkins was QB Donovan McNabb, an Eagles player from 1999 to 2009. Before moving to the Redskins in 2010 and ending his career for the Vikings in 2011, McNabb would put in 11 years of hard service as the team’s main focal point, including 148 Eagles NFL games played.
For Philadelphia, McNabb completed 2,801 total passes for 32,873 yards and 216 passing touchdowns. In addition, he rushed for approximately 3,249 yards for a total of 28 rushing touchdowns. Along with numerous Pro Bowls (6) and 1 MVP award in 2000, Donovan McNabb will most likely be remembered as the best Eagles quarterback to ever serve the team.
Last but certainly not least is Reggie White, one of the most crucial players to the Philadelphia Eagles’ legacy. White began his career in the NFL for the Eagles at age 24 in the 1985 season, where he’d be the team’s main defensive end (left) for 8 straight years before leaving to play for the Green Bay Packers.
In his 8 seasons at Philadelphia, White accumulated 121 games played just for the Eagles. In those 121 games, he intercepted 2 passes, recovered 11 fumbles and achieved 2 sacks, along with 794 combined tackles. Crazy enough for White, the only year he wouldn’t make the Pro Bowl was his first in 1985, where every proceeding year he’d make the Pro Bowl and earn a respective All-Pros award, giving no room for argument that he was the best Eagles defensive end we’ve seen to date.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.