5 Draft Moments That Eagles Fans Actually Remember Fondly
The 2021 NFL draft is upon us and while it’s one of the most exciting nights of the year for most football fanbases, for Eagles fans it’s become a dreaded occasion. Year after year something goes wrong whether it’s picking the wrong wide receiver, wasting a high pick on someone who can’t stay healthy, or picking a prospect you never even heard of despite countless research. Even when they got a franchise icon like Donovan McNabb, his draft moment is overshadowed by the chorus boos from the infamous Dirty Thirty.
So believe it or not there have been moments over the years that have actually been GOOD for the Eagles, and here are a few that come to mind.
5. Drafting Carson Wentz
Yes, obviously this is an event we don’t have as fond memories of as we did 5 years ago. The freshest image of Wentz in the fans minds is him being broken in 2020 and deciding to quit on the franchise after being benched. Even with the ugly ending, Wentz’s drafting is still a significant moment in Eagles history because it laid the foundation for their first Super Bowl title in 2017. Considering that the NFL Draft has always been a complicated puzzle for the Eagles, it was nice to see the 2016 draft class be solely about one player. Whoever they picked afterwards didn’t matter as much because they got their guy. And that guy at least delivered probably the best regular season by an Eagles quarterback in 2017.
4. The 2002 Draft Class
Most of the Eagles draft classes over the years have been AWFUL, as they’re lucky to draft a single Pro Bowl player in an entire class. Which is why the Bird’s 2002 draft class is still impressive to look at today. In 2002 the Eagles were coming off an appearance in the NFC Championship Game and already had a solid Cornerback tandem in Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor. But as they were getting older the Eagles drafted Lito Shepperd and Sheldon Brown in the 2002 draft, two Defensive Backs who would pick up where Vincent and Brown left off throughout the 2000s. The Eagles having a solid secondary? What a dream!
But what makes the 2002 draft class special is that in the 3rd round they selected a running back from Villanova named Brian Westbrook, who also picked up where Deuce Staley and was their eternally underrated and do-it-all tailback for the rest of the 2000s.
3. Adding to the Legendary 2011 Draft Class
Considering how iconic the 2011 NFL Draft class has been a decade later featuring future Hall of Famers like JJ Watt, Von Miller, Julio Jones and countless others, the Eagles should have been totally ashamed of themselves for striking out on EVERY SINGLE PICK in their draft…except one. That one was the 191st pick in the 6th round, a center from Cincinnati by the name of Jason Kelce. A decade later and Kelce himself may go down as a Hall of Famer. Even with the embarrassment of fireman Danny Watkins being their first round pick, the Eagles can still hold their heads high for getting one of the better players in this famous draft.
2. Hosting the 2017 NFL Draft
The NFL Draft has become a traveling road show over the past few years, but it was never better than when Philadelphia hosted the draft in 2017. The NFL world was stunned at how well the City of Brotherly Love hosted the event without any arrests and little chaos. The 2017 draft itself is already etched into NFL lore thanks to the historic drafting of Patrick Mahomes, and teams including the Chicago Bears passing up on him. The Eagles themselves didn’t have a great draft but their first round Derek Barnett pick did recover the fumble on the biggest play in franchise history. 10 months later and the 2017 NFL season would end where it started: on the Rocky steps.
1. David Akers Trolls ‘Dem Cowboys
The reason why Eagles fans wanted a Super Bowl so bad is that they wanted 57 years of waiting to pay off in a moment of glory. The other reason why is because they finally wanted to have SOMETHING to brag over Cowboys fans. Beating the Cowboys and having more recent success than them didn’t matter because they always had the Super Bowl trump card. So finally in the offseason post-Super Bowl LII fans finally had something to gloat about, and all that culminated in the NFL Draft which happened to be in Jerryworld of all places.
While longtime kicker David Akers seemed like an odd choice to represent the Eagles 2nd round draft pick, he turned out to be the perfect choice. Akers gave his best Jimmy Hart impression as he pointed out that the last time the Cowboys were in the Super Bowl these draft picks weren’t even born yet. Then he fittingly announced the Eagles picked a player named Dallas. Who cares what’s happened after, this troll-job moment in Dallas is exactly what we’ve been fantasizing about for decades and we finally got our moment of glory.