5 Eagles Who Became Legends In A Short Tenure

With Torrey Smith announcing his retirement following his release from the Panthers, another member of the 2017 Eagles is hanging up the cleats.

Despite wearing midnight green for only one season, Smith will forever be apart of Eagles lore for his role in the team’s first Super Bowl. The two plays he’s remembered for most is his “Immaculate Reception-esque” catch in the divisional playoffs against Atlanta which led to a field goal that became key points, and the spectacular touchdown catch in NFC Championship game that sealed victory. (He also became apart of Eagles infamy last season as a Panther when he was wide open on fourth-and-long in one of the worst regular season losses in Birds history but lets stick to the good times)

Torrey Smith will get cheers whenever he comes back to Eagles alumni nights and 2017 reunion ceremonies despite playing only one season for Philly. That puts him in a unique position with few others of players who became Eagles legends in such a short time with the team. Longevity is usually what it takes to earn your wings, but these following players are rare exceptions. These are five Eagles legends who had a short tenure with the team.

 

Terrell Owens

Somewhere in an alternate reality, Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb go into the Hall of Fame together while wearing a Super Bowl ring or two, and the Numbers 5 and 81 hang from the rafters at Lincoln Financial Field. Heck, they may even get their own statues outside the Linc.

Instead, the egos and petty beef wars between the two divided the locker room and turned what had been a Super Bowl team in 2004 into a 6-10 disaster in 2005. T.O. did everything he could to destroy his Eagles legacy in practically an Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader type of transformation by joining the Cowboys in the aftermath his Eagles fallout.

Even with all the wreckage he caused, T.O remains the best Eagles receiver of the 2000s and is the most talented wideout the franchise has ever had. In just 22 games as an Eagle he received over 2000 yards and scored 20 touchdowns. His performance in Super Bowl XXXIX was the only good thing the Birds ever did in the Big Game until B.D.N. and company showed up to Minnesota two February ago.

As the dust settled and Owens was ran out of teams to play for, Philadelphians have come to appreciate what he did in such a short time and have started to side with him over McNabb in recent years. Had he actually attended his Hall of Fame ceremony, the Eagles fans who were there to celebrate Brian Dawkins would’ve given plenty of “T.O.” chants for him.

 

Legarrete Blount and Jay Ajayi 

Blount and Ajayi are ranked together because both were big contributors to the Eagles running game in the 2017 season and both had very short tenures. 2017 would be Blount’s only season in Philly and Ajayi played only 14 games in 2 seasons.

While they haven’t had a true franchise running back since Shady McCoy and have been sticking to the running back by committee squad, Blount and Ajayi remain the standard for that type of formula.

Despite having issues with previous teams in his past, Blount showed grace and maturity as a teammate to the Eagles offense and huge for those 3rd and short type of situations. His signature performance of that season was the 136 yard effort in Lincoln Financial Field West versus the Chargers. Blount also scored the only Super Bowl rushing touchdown in Eagles history with a 21 yard dash against his former team.

People will look back on Jay Ajayi’s stats as an Eagle and be perplexed as to why he’s so beloved having only scored 1 touchdown in the 2017 season and 4 total in just 14 games. But those people probably weren’t around Philly for the instant shock and hype that occurred when they saw Howie Roseman acquire the Pro Bowl running back from Miami for just a 4th round pick (Thanks Adam Gase!) His transition to the Birds offense was immediate with a long touchdown run in his debut versus the Broncos and a 71 yard run the next game in Dallas. Despite suffering a torn ACL early in the 2018 season, it’s hard to argue that the Birds still win their first Super Bowl without acquiring him.

 

Vince Papale

Hey, how many Eagles get to have Marky Mark play them in a Disney movie?

Papale’s actual contributions to the Eagles winning wasn’t that much, he was primarily a special teams player who did make one reception in a three year career.

It was the 70’s so I don’t know how much attention Papale was getting at the time of playing, but his legend and popularity has clearly grown ever since. In the same year “Rocky” went to theaters, Papale lived a real-life Rocky story as a 30 year old bartender who tried out for the team, endured Dick Vermeil’s grueling training camp, and made the final roster for three straight seasons.

Papale remains a sentimental folk hero of Philadelphia and is one of the most recognizable Eagles alumni out there. He was even voted to the Eagles 75th anniversary team as the Special Teams captain. The same 75th anniversary team that somehow has Shawn Andrews as the starting guard. That pick did not age well.

 

Chris Long

Image result for chris long parade

In just two seasons as an Eagle, Chris Long became a fan favorite and one of the inspirational leaders for Philly’s exhilarating and emotionally exhausting 2017 and 2018 teams.

Long’s forced fumble on Jared Goff was a key play for arguably the most important win of the 2017 regular season and his forced pressure on Case Keenum in the NFC title game led to the Patrick Robinson Pick Six.

It wasn’t even his on-field accomplishments that made Long a Eagles legend. He started the underdog masks crazy with Lane Johnson that became apart of Philly lore forever. He donated his 2017 game checks to schools in hometown, and his support of Malcolm Jenkins’s peaceful protests during the national anthem made him respected by the whole nation.

Long’s professional football career that coincided with activism and charity, fittingly came to an end when he received the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

 

Norm Van Brocklin

https://youtu.be/bchv51nuQYE

By the time Norm Van Brocklin arrived in Philadelphia for the 1958 season, he played nine seasons with the Los Angeles Rams earning six pro bowls, an NFL championship, and a single-game passing record which (insanely!) still stands to this day.

In just three seasons as an Eagle, Van Brocklin became one of the greatest quarterbacks in franchise history in winning the 1960 NFL MVP in his final season and leading the team to the 1960 championship.

As the Eagles championship drought continued throughout the decades, the legend of Van Brocklin only grew as a quarterback who set the standard no one else could.

What’s also forgotten about him was that he was going to become head coach of the Eagles but his bad relations with upper management led to his firing before the 1961 season. He didn’t have much success as a head coach of the Vikings and Falcons either so I doubt he’d have any for Philadelphia.

Van Brocklin’s shadow may no longer cast over their title drought, but he still remains the Birds last regular season league MVP, a drought that their current number 11 hopes to break.

By Mike McCarrick | September 15, 2019
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