In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

Dolphins

Cowboys

Bills

Over the course of their franchise, Philadelphia has won 49% of its games. But if you removed the games coached by former NFL commissioner Bert Bell, the Eagles actually are above .500 for the rest of their history! The best coach in Philadelphia history is Andy Reid, even if he never won a Super Bowl. He won 58.3% of his games with the team, while all other Eagles head coaches have won just 46.9% of games. Doug Pederson is off to a good start, and so far has a slightly better winning percentage with the Eagles, but he’s got a long way to go before he passes Reid on this list.

Likewise, when it comes to winning regular season games, no quarterback to wear the Eagles uniform could match Donovan McNabb’s success. For quarterbacks in this series, I am only going to go back to 1950. That’s because we don’t have quarterback starts data prior to 1950. That didn’t matter for the first three teams, but it does matter here for the Eagles. Since 1950, Philadelphia has a nearly perfectly average record of 501-499-18. With McNabb as the starter, Philadelphia won 65.1% of their games; overall, the team has won 50.1% of games since ’50, and without McNabb, that number drops to 47.7%.

The Eagles have had a lot of very good running backs in their history, including some borderline Hall of Famers. Ricky Watters led the team in rushing in 88% of his games, Brian Westbrook was an all-purpose threat who led the team in rushing 81 times, and LeSean McCoy is a YPC star who led the Eagles in rushing in more games than Watters and more frequently than Westbrook. But it was late ’70s/early ’80s star Wilbert Montgomery who has led the team in rushing most often. Oh, and you might notice a certain quarterback led the Eagles in rushing 37 times, too.

What about the leaders in receiving in Eagles history? Terrell Owens did so in 68% of his games, but he only suited up with the Eagles 22 times. Hall of Famer Pete Pihos did so in 37 games while being an outstanding defensive player, but it’s 6’8 Harold Carmichael who easily paces the field here.

That’s it for the Philadelphia version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.