Top 15 draft picks taken in Philadelphia Eagles history

Thanks to Brookshier, no one will ever wear number 40 for the Philadelphia Eagles again.

So, here’s a question that we could have asked earlier. What constitutes an excellent draft choice? Is it landing a star early? Is it finding a diamond in the rough later on in the process? Should we debate over one’s level of production or how many Pro Bowl nods they earned? Why can’t we just say it’s a mixture of all of those things?

Here’s what we do know, and we can say this with the utmost sincerity. Regardless of how you base the criteria, Tom Brookshier is without question, one of the Eagles’ best success stories. Taken in Round 10… (yes, that says ‘ten’,) he was the 117th player taken in the 1953 draft. He’s in the Eagles Hall of Fame by the way, having notched 20 interceptions during his professional career.

Seven NFL seasons, 1953 and 1956 to 1961, produced Pro Bowl nods in 1959 and 1960 (he missed both the 954 and 1955 seasons to serve in the United States Air Force). He was a member of the Eagles’ NFL Championship-winning team in 1960.

After leaving the NFL, he enjoyed a second life as a sportscaster in Philadelphia in 1962, joining WCAU-AM-FM-TV. He became the station’s sports director in 1963. From there, he went on to join CBS in 1965 and did color commentary for Eagles telecasts. He also did some regional coverage after CBS moved away from some of their announcers in 1968.

He’s a legend both on the field and off, and no one in midnight or kelly green will ever wear the number 40 jersey again because of him.