The Top 5 Eagles Most Likely To Have Their Number Retired

During their home opener (in a loss) to the Colts, the Tennessee Titans officially retired the numbers of Steve McNair and Eddie George. While neither George or McNair are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, both were franchise icons who put Tennessee on the NFL map and guided them to their only Super Bowl berth in 1999.

A team retiring a player’s number is the highest honor a franchise can bestow upon a player. The ceremony needs to feel special, and not an overdone publicity stunt that teams like the Yankees and Celtics have done. It needs to be the rarest of a rare occasion. With not a dry eye in the entire stadium,

The Eagles standard of retired numbers is pretty interesting in fact.

Al Wisert’s 70, Tom Brookshier’s 40, and Pete Retzlaff’s were all retired but none of them are in the Hall of Fame. Tommy McDonald, Pete Pihos, Alex Wojciechowicz, and Bob Brown are all in Canton but none of their numbers have been retired.

The two most recent Eagles number retirements came for Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins in 2012 and “Hall of Very Good” quarterback Donovan McNabb in 2013. With the Birds achieving their first Super Bowl championship in 2017, it’d be shocking if no one from that team got their number hanging from the rafters eventually.

Here’s a Top 5 list of current and former Eagles who have the best chance of being that tenth player to hang from the rafters.

 

5. Lesean McCoy

Despite being here for only six seasons, Shady McCoy is the Eagles all-time leading rusher and is best running back in franchise history (or at least modern history with respect to Steve Van Buren). McCoy was the face of the franchise during the early 2010s and fans were in awe of his amazing runs not seen since Barry Sanders.

And then…

CHIP.

Five years later, Lesean McCoy has an odd legacy with the Eagles. His tenure was in-between the McNabb/Reid era and the Pederson/Wentz era which garnered no playoff success. His departure was the move that drove the Chip Kelly Eagles to rock bottom and created the foundation that would lead to 2017. Not-to-mention his bizarre off-field actions and downright horrific accusations make him one of the NFL’s most unlikable players.

Even with all that, Shady has near-Hall of Fame numbers and still has some time to add to his resume and perhaps get a ring in Kansas City. If he makes it to Canton, it’ll be hard to say no to retiring 25.

 

4. Fletcher Cox

https://youtu.be/azfCel_nx-8

At just 28, Fletcher Cox is an easy pick to line-up alongside Jerome Brown as the starting defensive tackle for the All-time Eagles team.

Cox is coming off the best season of his career with double digit sacks and a 1st team All-Pro selection for the first time after three 2nd team selections. If he keeps up the production for a few more seasons he’ll have a Hall of Fame resume and worthy of having Number 91 retired.

The only thing that might delay his induction into Canton is that he’s playing at the same time of a generational Defensive Tackle who wears 99 in LA. Similar to how the Patriots had a Hall of Fame linebacker in the 1980s named Andre Tippett. You probably haven’t heard of Tippett because he played linebacker during the same time as Lawrence Taylor.

But remember this too, Cox has more rings.

 

3. Nick Foles

It doesn’t make sense to retire the number of a player who spent most of their time as a backup quarterback in only five seasons with the team, but this is Nick Foles we’re talking about.

While Foles has little to no shot at making the Hall of Fame, he will forever be an NFL legend and Philadelphia icon for his incredible up-and-down journey that led him to  being the Eagles first Super Bowl MVP.

He may not have always been consistent, but when B.D.N. was on, he was ON. The dude tied a record for touchdown passes in a game and most consecutive completions. His 27-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio in 2013 set a record as the best in NFL history.

The two greatest single-game performances in franchise history was his efforts in the NFC Championship game and Super Bowl LII where he out-dueled Tom Brady in the biggest shoot-out in Super Bowl history.

Even though he had a short time in both of his stints in Philly, Nick Foles cemented himself as an icon in Eagles history and it’s hard to believe that fans would be okay if someone else wore Number 9.

Foles probably belongs in the Randall Cunningham category of not hanging from the rafters but not being reissued.

 

2. Carson Wentz

This may not seem fair, but if Carson Wentz doesn’t finish his career as a no-doubt Hall of Famer and an obvious candidate to get his number 11 retired, then his career will be viewed as a major disappointment. Yeah, no pressure my guy.

In fact, if Wentz doesn’t become an undisputed member of the Eagles Mount Rushmore and a legitimate threat to Chuck Bednarik’s status as The GOAT Eagle then fans will also find his career as a letdown.  Once again, no pressure!

That maybe a lot to expect, but that’s just how good he’s looked when healthy and confident. Wentz became the face of franchise from the moment they drafted him in what has already become a legendary 2016 draft class. He’s already delivered the greatest quarterback season in Eagles history with his 2017 campaign and would have undoubtedly been the first Eagle since 1960 to win league MVP if he hadn’t gotten injured.

All Wentz has to do is get back on track to track to where he was before that injury in 2017 and the rest will be smooth sailing.

Or at least for the love of God please have a slightly better career than Dak!

 

1. Jason Peters

JP, The Bodyguard, The Godfather, the only current Eagle who will go into the Hall of Fame and get his number hanging from the rafters if he retires immediately is the great Jason Peters.

What’s remarkable about that is that he’s not even a homegrown Eagle. The Buffalo Bills took Peters as an undrafted free agent in 2004 and he became a Pro Bowl tackle in five seasons there.

Then, in one of the great trades in franchise history, the Eagles acquired JP for a first and a fourth round pick and haven’t looked back since. Peters is now entering his 16th season as a 9-time Pro Bowler and a 6-time 1st or 2nd team All-Pro tackle.

While he may have torn his ACL and MCL during week 7 of the 2017 season that kept him out of the Super Bowl, Lane Johnson holding his Number 71 jersey during the team entrance showed just how much JP meant to the team even on the sideline. And for good measure, he got to finally play in a playoff win last season in the Double Doink game.

Whenever The Bodyguard decides to hang up the cleats for good, Number 71 will hang from the rafters and all that’s left is a call from Canton.