In the last few weeks, we have been unveiling our all-time Eagles team.
We enlisted the help of Eagles reporters Reuben Frank and Dave Zangaro, Quick Slants hosts Derrick Gunn and Barrett Brooks and Quick Slants producer Mike Mulhern for voting.
We asked each person to rank their top five players at 16 different positions. A 1st-place vote was worth five points, a 2nd-place vote was worth four, and so on.
Up today: Returner
Complete voting:
1. Brian Mitchell = 16
2. Timmy Brown = 15
3. DeSean Jackson = 14
4. Darren Sproles = 13
5. Brian Westbrook = 9
6. Steve Van Buren = 8
The breakdown:
NFL
Despite taking just two of five top spots, Mitchell ended up winning the voting. If you were wondering, Jackson, Van Buren and Timmy Brown took the other No. 1 spots.
We didn’t break this down into punt and kick returners and, ultimately, it proved pretty tough to pick just one guy. Our votes were all over the place.
Did we get it right?
This is a tough one, but Mitchell is a solid choice. He spent just three of his 14 NFL seasons in Philly, but he was really good. He had two kick return touchdowns and two punt return touchdowns in those three seasons. He averaged 11.7 yards per punt return and 25.3 yards per kick return. Both averages are higher than he had in Washington. So we’re talking about No. 2 in all-purpose yards having three of his best years as a returner with the Eagles.
Brown played for the Eagles in the 60s and averaged 9.3 and 26.5 yards as a punt and kick returner, respectively. In his eight years as an Eagle, he returned one punt and five kickoffs.
Jackson is an electric punt returner and has taken four to the house, including that famous one against the Giants, but he has returned just four total kicks for the Eagles. Sproles had four of his seven punt return touchdowns with the Eagles but also didn’t return kicks. Westbrook returned kicks as a rookie but then was a punt returner. Van Buren returned both and had a total of five return touchdowns.
Complete team:
QB: Donovan McNabb
RB: LeSean McCoy
WR: Harold Carmichael
WR: Mike Quick
WR: Tommy McDonald
TE: Zach Ertz
OT: Jason Peters
OT: Lane Johnson
OG: Brandon Brooks
OG: Bucko Kilroy
C: Jason Kelce
DT: Fletcher Cox
DT: Jerome Brown
DE: Reggie White
DE: Clyde Simmons
ILB: Chuck Bednarik
OLB: Seth Joyner
OLB: William Thomas
CB: Eric Allen
CB: Troy Vincent
S: Brian Dawkins
S: Bill Bradley
P: Donnie Jones
K: David Akers
RET: Brian Mitchell
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