Editor’s note: As part of NFL’s Greatest Quarterback, fans will decide the best QB in each team’s history. Since we will be narrowing down to just one quarterback overall, Sonny Jurgensen is included in the Redskins’ poll and Norm Van Brocklin will be in the Rams’.
Tommy Thompson: Thompson won two NFL Championships for the Eagles in 1948 and 1949. He’s one of just three quarterbacks with multiple championships who is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In 1948, Thompson led the NFL with 25 passing touchdowns. He had a career-high 1,965 passing yards that year and just 11 interceptions. Thompson made just one Pro Bowl during his career, but deserves a spot among the top quarterbacks in Philly history simply for winning two rings.
Ron Jaworski: “Jaws” may be better known as an ESPN analysts than an NFL quarterback at this point, but he’s one of the best the Eagles have ever had. Jaworski started for the Eagles from 1977 to 1986 and made the playoff four-straight years under Dick Vermeil from 1978 to 1981.
Jaws led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 1980, but lost to the Raiders. He made the Pro Bowl that season and won the Bert Bell Award and UPI NFC Player of the Year. Jaworksi joined the Monday Night Football broadcast as a color commentator in 2007 and served in that role until 2011.
Randall Cunningham: Cunningham was about 25 years too early for his craft as a mobile quarterback with a rocket arm. You can see a lot of the same tools in Robert Griffin III, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson that the league saw in Cunningham as far back as 1985 when he was the Eagles’ No. 37 overall pick.
Cunningham and Jaworski shared time under center in 1986 under head coach Buddy Ryan. The fleet-footed Cunningham would come in on third down — the team went 5-10-1 that season.
Cunningham’s best season came in 1990 when he threw for 3,466 yards, 30 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He added another 942 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. Cunningham tore his ACL during the 1991 season and never fully recaptured the mobility he flashed early in his career. After making three-straight Pro Bowls early in his career, he wouldn’t make it again until he had revived his career in 1998 in Minnesota.
Donovan McNabb: McNabb’s claim to fame with the Eagles is that he led them to four-straight and five-total NFC Championship games. The Eagles also won four consecutive NFC East titles under McNabb from 2001 to 2004. The Eagles made the Super Bowl once in 2004, but lost to the New England Patriots.
McNabb was drafted No. 2 overall in 1999 — a draft in which five quarterbacks were taken in the top 12. He came out by far the best over Tim Couch, Akili Smith, Daunte Culpepper and Cade McNown. McNabb was named to six Pro Bowls during his 13-year career. The Syracuse product is the Eagles’ career leader in yards, touchdowns, completions and wins.
