Loving the Philadelphia Eagles means that there will be disappointments.
Through the ups and downs and the highs and lows, there are years in which the Philadelphia Eagles look like are an awfully run football team. That’s when the emotions run over, and we all begin to allow ourselves to believe things like they’ll never be good again. That’s part of the experience though. We love them. We hate them, but no matter how many times they push us to what feels like our limit, we know we’ll never leave them and that, eventually, the wins will occur again.
Loving the Birds is a lifetime arrangement, and truthfully, the relationship hasn’t been as difficult as it has to be to love some of the NFL’s other franchises. Look at it this way. At least you didn’t grow up a Detroit Lions fan.
The NFL is a business that allows for each of its 32 franchises to get better at the drop of a hat, and thanks to the draft and free agency, your team can go from the outhouse to the penthouse in no time.
There’s also the ability to make trades. Though we don’t see them as often as we do in, say, other sports, they do occur, and while we’ll always debate things like which ones were fruitful and which ones weren’t, one thing is certain. There are several that we’ll always view as some of the worst in team history. Here are a few that qualify.
As a matter of fact, we’re planting the flag. These were the worst trades in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles.
5. The Philadelphia Eagles trade Nick Foles to Saint Louis for Sam Bradford.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, this list isn’t a list at all if ‘Sammy Sleeves’ isn’t on it. Throughout history, the number seven jersey has been worn by a few guys that Birds fans everywhere are proud of, guys we love (Sean Landeta, Ron Jaworski, Jeff Garcia, and Michael Vick), but there have been a few head-scratchers to wear the number seven jersey as well (Nate Sudfeld, Bobby Hoying, and Sam Bradford).
As demonstrated by the LeSean McCoy trade, Chip Kelly’s eye for talent at the NFL level was a bit, shall we say, lacking. That Kiko Alonso debacle eventually ended with the Birds dumping both him and Byron Maxwell on the Miami Dolphins, but the highlight of the 2016 Eagles offseason came when they, after drafting Carson Wentz, shipped Sam Bradford off to the Minnesota Vikings just eight days before the start of the regular season.
It was a move that they never would have even made had it not been for the fact that it was Kelly who traded for Sam Bradford in the first place.
On March 10th of 2015, Bradford was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles from the Saint Louis Rams in exchange for Nick Foles. The Eagles also received a 2015 fourth-round pick and a 2016 second-round pick while shipping off a 2015 fifth-round pick of their own.
Years later, we’re still trying to figure out what this one was about and what Chip thought he’d get out of the deal. It was clear early that Sam Bradford would never be a Super Bowl quarterback.
So, what should we gain from the Philadelphia Eagles’ acquisition of Bradford?
The Foles/Bradford trade was one’s a trade that didn’t really work out well for either side. Both had success early in their careers. Bradford was the first-overall selection in 2010’s NFL Draft. He earned a spot on the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie Team that season and was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Foles was the NFL’s leader in passer rating following the 2013 season. He threw 27 touchdowns versus two interceptions in 13 games, and he earned a Pro Bowl nod for his efforts.
Who knows? Perhaps Chip was planted by Jerry Jones to run some seek and destroy mission on the Eagles’ roster. Whatever the case, despite the fact that Sam Bradford was the NFL completion percentage leader in 2016, he again, didn’t wind up doing a ton in the City of Brotherly Love.
In all, he appeared in 14 games with 14 starts and led the Birds to a .500 record (7-7). Foles, during his two-year hiatus, wasn’t much better. He’d lead the Rams to a 4-7 record in seven starts but battled injuries. He also won in his only appearance as the Kansas City Chiefs starter in 2016.
Foles’ best days as a professional came with the Birds, and in all honesty, it makes you wonder, after watching his first stint in Philly as the starter and after seeing what he was able to do in his second run (we all know how that turned out), some might venture to ask what life would have been like had he never left in the first place.
4. The Philadelphia Eagles ship LeSean McCoy off for Kiko Alonso.
As much as we don’t want to give him credit, Chip Kelly drafted two of the greatest Philadelphia Eagles of all time, two Eagles who should be enshrined in Canton one day (Lane Johnson and Zach Ertz). Unfortunately, he’s best remembered for shipping off some of the most beloved Birds of all time. Throw LeSean McCoy in that category.
The Eagles drafted McCoy in Round 2 of the 2009 NFL Draft with the 53rd-overall selection, and in 90 regular-season games that spanned six seasons, he went on to become the franchise’s all-time leading rusher with 6,792 yards. During that span, he was a First-team All-Pro twice (2011, 2013), and he made three Pro Bowls (2011, 2013-2014).
He was also the NFL rushing touchdowns leader in 2011 and the NFL rushing yards leader in 2013. He’s also a member of the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.
McCoy was traded on March 10th of 2015 by Kelly to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for the linebacker Kiko Alonso after toting the rock 1,461 times, reaching the end zone 44 times as a rusher, and hauling in 300 receptions. He racked up another ten touchdowns as a receiver for Philly as well. You can see where this is headed right?
The Philadelphia Eagles’ decision to move McCoy pays off, for Buffalo.
Some say that Kelly, a known control freak at the time, was intimidated by strong-minded players with a lot of backbone or brash personalities. As a result, fan favorites like Shady and DeSean Jackson were shipped off. Regardless of where you stand on that one, here’s what we can all agree on. The Bills were the winners of the Alonso/McCoy trade.
Shady appeared in 57 games with 56 starts for Buffalo. He scored 25 more rushing touchdowns as a member of the Bills. He also notched 3,814 rushing yards while hauling in another 175 passes for 1,334 yards. He also scored five touchdowns as a receiver.
When you compare him to some of the great running backs that played in the same era he did, you can make a case for why Shady should find his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well. The Eagles definitely moved off of him too early.
Alonso appeared in11 regular-season games for the Birds, making one start. He was only able to manage 43 tackles, a pass breakup, and an interception. Thanks a lot Chip! You really knocked this one out of the park!
3. The Philadelphia Eagles trade Sonny Jurgensen to Washington.
Some might argue that the Philadelphia Eagles could do a whole lot worse than shipping Sonny Jurgensen off and getting Norm Snead in return, and they did (as we’ll discuss later). Still, anytime you ship off a future Hall of Fame inductee that can still play for a very good quarterback whose best days are behind him, you have to imagine that will be one of those things that might be talked about forever.
Snead had some great moments as a member of the Eagles. He made the Pro Bowl in 1965. He tossed 29 touchdown passes in 1967, including a four-touchdown performance versus the Pittsburgh Steelers that season, but things fell apart after that.
He led the NFL in interceptions in 1968, and from 1968 to 1970, with Snead under center, the team went 9-26-2, forcing the Birds to part ways with Snead in 1971.
Meanwhile, during Jurgensen’s 11 years in the nation’s capital (1964-1974), he made four Pro Bowls (1964, 1966, 1967, 1969), and he was a Second-team All-Pro three times (1966, 1967, 1969). Not only that, but he also led the NFL in passing yards three times (1966, 1967, 1969), and those 27 touchdown passes that were thrown by Snead that we mentioned earlier trailed only one man. Guess who that man was.
If you named Sony Jurgensen as your answer, give yourself a gold star. Jurgensen threw 31 touchdown passes that season. Most of us weren’t born yet when Philly shipped Sonny off to Washington, but many years later, this is still one of the worst trades in franchise history (and always will be).
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.
If only the Philadelphia Eagles could travel back to 1995 and hit the reset button.
As mentioned, Mike Mamula never made a Pro Bowl. He was never a First-Team All-Pro. On the other hand, Sapp went to seven Pro Bowls (1997–2003). He was also the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999, a four-time First-team All-Pro (1999–2002), a two-time Second-team All-Pro (1997, 1998), and he’s a member of both the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team as well as its 2000s All-Decade Team.
Don’t forget about that Super Bowl he won with the Bucs either, one in which Tampa beat the Birds in the NFC Championship Game to get there.
Mike Mamula, on the other hand, is Philadelphia’s Ryan Leaf, their Tony Mandarich. Mike Mamula is arguably the biggest draft bust in Eagles history based on what they gave up to get him and who they ignored in the process (the Eagles also missed out on Hall of Famers Ty Law and Derrick Brooks).
Even if you disagree with the fact that Mamula is this team’s biggest bust, you can understand where the argument for why he is comes from, but here’s what’s the most mind-boggling part of all of that.
The trade that brought him here isn’t the worst trade in team history. That trade came almost 24 years earlier, and it tops the list of unexplainable misses.
1. Philadelphia Eagles give up three draft picks for a QB that never suited up.
Ask any Philadelphia Eagles fan about the worst trade in the team’s history, and you’re probably going to hear Mike Mamula’s name. Yes, just to restate, it was a bad move. It wasn’t just a bad trade. The pick wound up being awful, so it’s almost like being beaten up twice.
Every time any Eagles fan looks at Warren Sapp, you have to wonder what could have been, but here’s the thing. Philly didn’t get much from Mamula, but, at least they got something. They didn’t get anything at all from Greg Barton, and it’s for that reason that the Eagles’ decision to trade three draft picks for his services winds up topping this list of the greatest trade snafus in franchise history.
In 1971, on January 28th, Philadelphia traded the 30th-overall selection in that year’s draft (a second-round selection at the time) along with a second-round and third-round selection in 1972 for Greg Barton. He played a grand total of zero snaps in an Eagles jersey, electing instead to exercise an option in his 1969 contract and sign with the Canadian League’s Toronto Argonauts.
He played there for two seasons before finishing his playing career with the World Football League’s Portland Storm… Yikes…
By the way, Detroit used two of those draft picks the Eagles gave them to select Dave Thompson, an offensive lineman, and defensive end Ken Sanders. Thompson played 35 games in a Lions jersey and 56 games total over the course of five seasons. Sanders appeared in 100 games with the Lions and 78 starts and racked up 38.5 sacks for his career.
The 40th-overall selection wound up with the Atlanta Falcons, and they used that pick to land quarterback Pat Sullivan. He remained on their roster for four seasons, starting four games and throwing five touchdowns versus 16 interceptions over that time, but hey, at least Atlanta got something. We mentioned that Barton played zero snaps in an Eagles jersey right?