Eagles have their best duo at CB since the Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor era

There were free-agency signings (Haason Reddick) and key additions that the Philadelphia Eagles made during the NFL Draft (Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean). There was even a blockbuster trade that brought one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, A.J. Brown, to the City of Brotherly Love. It’s been a lot of fun.

There are always two sides to every coin though. There were other times in which we were very worried.

The Birds were criticized for being too passive at times, but it’s hard to argue that it’s been an offseason to remember. A few days past the midpoint of May, an already satisfactory roster upgrade got another shot in the arm.

Philadelphia found its complement to Darius Slay with the acquisition of James Bradberry. Just like that, they’ve thrown themselves in the conversation of having one of the best starting cornerback tandems in all of professional football, if not the best, but this isn’t the first time that’s happened.

Gather around the campfire youngsters! We have a story to tell!. We take you back to 1995.

The Darius Slay/James Bradberry combo gives the Eagles their best starting cornerback tandem since the Troy Vincent/Bobby Taylor era.

It was an NFL Draft to remember. The Philadelphia Eagles passed on Warren Sapp, electing instead to take Mike Mamula five spots earlier. The New York Jets wound up taking an immensely talented defensive end that would wind up with the Birds anyway, and they landed him four spots after Sapp was taken. His name was Hugh Douglas.

In addition to Sapp, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would win up taking another future Pro Football Hall of Famer with the 28th-overall selection, a linebacker by the name of Derrick Brooks. Gosh, they had a great draft!

The Eagles struck gold in Round 2, taking a cornerback from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by the name of Bobby Taylor. That worked out pretty well for them as he earned a spot on the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie Team. During 1996’s offseason, Philly hit another home run, landing Troy Vincent during the free-agency period,

So, you see? Don’t let anyone tell you Ray Rhodes didn’t do some great things during his time as head coach. What follows won’t have the same punch if you didn’t watch them play for yourselves. It’s still impressive though.

As a tandem, from 1996 to 2003, Vincent and Bobby ‘The Blanket’ combined for 242 games played with 236 starts, 900 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 48 interceptions, 187 pass breakups, 15 forced fumbles, and four defensive touchdowns was the result. That includes what they did in the playoffs (12 career in-game appearances for Taylor and nine for Vincent).

Look at this list of accomplishments. Collectively, Taylor ad Vincent stacked six Pro Bowl appearances, two First-Team All-Pro nominations, a Second-Team All-Pro nod, a Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, the “Whizzer” White NFL Man of the Year Award, and Vincent is in the Eagles Hall of Fame. Something tells us that Taylor will join him one day.

Now, Slay and Bradberry probably won’t play as long in Eagles green as Bobby and Troy did. James, currently, is only signed for one year. They probably won’t equal what those two did statistically, but ask anybody who remembers an era that began under Ray Rhodes and continued through a portion of the Andy Reid era.

As a duo, with no disrespect intended to Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown, Bradberry and Slay can be the best cornerback tandem we’ve seen since watching two legends for eight seasons. There’s no way we’re throwing Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in there.

One thing Troy and Bobby didn’t do was enjoy Super Bowl glory, and it’s there that Slay and Bradberry might be able to separate themselves. Don’t read what hasn’t been written. It isn’t time to plan any parades yet, but you have to dream big. Who knows? Philly’s new dynamic duo at cornerback may already be planning for a monster run together.