5 most disappointing trades in Philadelphia Eagles history

2. Philadelphia Eagles pass on three future Hall of Famers for Mike Mamula.

For the Philadelphia Eagles, Mike Mamula holds a special place in this team’s history, and it isn’t for a good reason. In 1995, the entire Eagles organization made a massive mistake.

They fell in love with an NFL Combine darling from Boston College, one who was coming off of an explosive senior season, and that led to a decision to trade up in the 1995 NFL Draft. Mamula was taken with the 7th-overall selection by Philly after swapping first-round selections with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs slid back to the 12th, and they selected Warren Sapp who was also on Philly’s radar for a time.

In hindsight, it appears that they could have gone with Sapp… just maybe. The Birds also gave up two second-round draft choices in 1995’s draft, and in return, wound up with Tampa’s third-rounder.

Mike Mamula was in Philadelphia for five seasons. He appeared in 82 games, starting 67 (that includes five playoff contests). He notched 215 total tackles, 32.5 sacks, eight forced fumbles, six pass breakups, an interception, and a defensive touchdown. He never made a Pro Bowl in any of his five seasons.

Warren Sapp had, shall we say, a much more productive career, tallying 605 career tackles, 102 sacks, 19 forced fumbles, 21 pass breakups, and four interceptions in 207 career games with 197 starts. Those numbers include nine playoff games, but they still don’t even scratch the surface in explaining how awful this trade wound up being.