Subscribe
Follow Us
The Philadelphia Eagles, in their 87-year history, have had two wide receivers who primarily played for the franchise then get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame—including a very recent addition.
The Eagles, one of the oldest football institutions, have a history stretching generations of great wideout talent, including these five greatest receivers.
5. DeSean Jackson (2008-13, 2019–present)
The first name is DeSean Jackson, the current veteran receiver who returned to the southeastern Pennsylvania franchise last year after a five-year career detour.
Jackson, 33, was selected by the Eagles in second round of the 2008 NFL Draft out of California. Also a kick and punt returner, Jackson, over his career, has made a big impact on the Philly club; in his rookie season, he caught 62 passes for 912 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the regular season, leading to a memorable postseason run that ended in an NFC Championship Game loss.
The next year, Jackson became a first-time Pro Bowler—the first of three selections in a seven-year Eagles tenure that's still ongoing.
The most recent player who will appear on this list, Jackson is the Eagles' sixth leader in receiving yards and tied for eighth-most in touchdown receptions.
4. Bobby Walston (1951-62)
Now to abruptly shift to the oldest player here, the next name is Bobby Walston, who coincidentally is also the most recent receiver, of four total, to be honored by the Eagles' own Hall of Fame, posthumously inducted last year.
Walston, who also served as a placekicker for the team, was the 166th overall pick of the 1951 NFL Draft made by the Eagles coming out of Georgia. Unfortunately for Walston, though, the combination kicker and end entered Philly during the franchise's lean years. Two years before coming into the league, the Eagles appeared in three consecutive NFL Championships, winning the latter two.
For Walston, he had to toil for 10 years before even making the playoffs, which included Philly winning the 1960 NFL title.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Walston is eighth all time in the Eagles franchise's receiving yards leaderboard but sixth in touchdown receptions.
3. Mike Quick (1982-90)
Next up is decorated Eagles receiver Mike Quick, who spent his entire nine-year NFL tenure with Philly. The Eagles selected Quick out of North Carolina State with the 20th overall pick in the 1982 draft, after which the 6-foot-2 wideout soon garnered attention; by his sophomore campaign with the Birds, Quick led the league in receiving yards (1,409). For that, Quick was distinguished with first-team All-Pro honors and his first of five Pro Bowl selections.
That year also set off three consecutive seasons with 1,000 or more receiving yards for Quick, amazingly also caught 33 touchdowns during that span. Tacking on the next two years, Quick would score 53 touchdown receptions in five seasons—one of the greatest stretch of pass-catching in franchise history in the mid-1980's.
Quick retired in 1990 due to a spate with a knee injury, cementing his legacy as one of the best wideouts in franchise history. To this day, he holds the both the third-most receiving yards and touchdowns in Eagles history and he joined the Eagles' Hall of Fame in 1995.
2. Tommy McDonald (1957-63)
The last pair of receivers are the only Eagles wideouts to enter the Hall of Fame with Philly. The first is Tommy McDonald, elected into Canton in 1998.
McDonald played just seven seasons with the Eagles in the pre-Super Bowl era, but his impact was far from inconsequential. The 31st overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft, a rookie McDonald would finish behind Walston for the team's most receiving yards. The next year, though, McDonald broke out with a string of five consecutive Pro Bowl selections. He twice led the NFL in touchdown receptions and, in 1961, led the league in receiving yards, too.
McDonald, along with Walston, was a champion with the Eagles in 1960, and after seven years in Philadelphia, he would spend the next five seasons with four different franchises.
McDonald retired as a six-time Pro Bowler (five with the Eagles) and later was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He's just seventh all time in receiving yards in franchise history but possesses the second-most touchdown receptions (66).
1. Harold Carmichael (1971-83)
Lastly but not least-ly is Harold Carmichael, the other Hall of Fame Eagles receiver and premier pass-catching talent in franchise history.
Before spending 13 seasons with the Eagles, Carmichael was a seventh-round pick in the 1971 draft by Philly, entering the league slotted at tight end due to his incredible 6-foot-8 height, unheard of at the wide receiver position. However, after a non-impactful rookie season, Carmichael moved over to wideout and turned into a real threat.
His breakout came in his third season, in 1973, where he led the league in both receptions and receiving yards, catching 67 passes for 1,116 yards and scoring nine touchdowns, earning his first Pro Bowl selection.
By then, Carmichael turned in a consummate target for the Eagles. By Ron Jaworski's Philly tenure, Carmichael again became a huge threat in the passing game. Starting in 1978, he rattled off three straight Pro Bowl appearances—coinciding with the franchise's best stretch of play in the post-merger era. Carmichael caught five passes for 83 yards in the Eagles' Super Bowl XV loss to the Oakland Raiders.
Two years after the Eagles' went to four consecutive postseasons, Carmichael retired, later joining the team in some official capacity as a player relations executive. He's the franchise's leader in both receiving yards and touchdown receptions and was the first receiver (of eventually in total four) inducted into the Eagles' Hall of Fame in 1987.
Carmichael finally joined the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2020 this year.
