Nobody Beats the Wiz; Stefen Wisniewski Wins at No. 61
From Pittsburgh to Penn State to Philadelphia, Stefen Wisniewski's journey across the Keystone State culminated with a Super Bowl ring with the Eagles after the 2017 season.
Born in the Steel City with an NFL Bloodline, Wiz started migrating East by attending Penn State where he was an All-American center en route to becoming a second-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.
Wisniewski was the starter at OC for the Raiders from Day 1 until the end of his rookie deal when he had a one-year stint in Jacksonville as the starter at the pivot.
By 2016, he was in Philadelphia and for Wisniewski's entire three-year stint, the Eagles never really wanted him to be a starter, preferring more athletic options on the interior of the offensive line.
When Plan A didn’t work out, however, Philadelphia was always very comfortable with Wisniewski being the safety net, the veteran game-day insurance policy on the interior who was able to handle all three positions seamlessly.
Wisniewski, of course, ended up starting in parts of three seasons with the Eagles from 2016-18 and was the team’s left guard in the Super Bowl LII win over New England, a resume that puts him at the top of the list for the best No. 61 in franchise history.
From now until the Eagles begin the season at Washington on Sept. 13, SI.com EagleMaven will do a jersey countdown, listing the current Eagles player to wear the corresponding number to the days left before the season opener. As a bonus, we will list the top three players in team history to have that number.
Current number 61:
Unassigned. Because of the strange offseason, the Eagles have yet to officially assign numbers to their undrafted free-agent class and Western Michigan center Luke Juriga or Iowa State guard Julian Good-Jones could get the number but we’re still in wait-and-see mode.
Top 3 to wear number 61:
3. Bill Dunstan. Originally a 14th-round pick in the 1971 draft by San Francisco, Dunstan kept plugging away until making it with the Eagles two years later and the Utah State product spent four seasons with the team (1973-1976). He was a part-time starter for most of his tenure save for 1975 when he started all 14 games. Dunstan was an ironman in his time with the Eagles playing in all 56 games with the organization.
2. Steve Everitt. The 14th overall pick of the 1993 draft by the Cleveland Browns, Everitt arrived in Philadelphia after his rookie contract with much fanfare signing a five-year, $11 million contract, at the time big money. Everitt only saw three years of the deal before being released when the decision was to shift toward Bubba Miller. Everitt did start all 45 games he played with the Eagles.
Everitt’s last year with the Cleveland franchise (1996) was the transition to the Baltimore Ravens and he was fined by the league for wearing a Browns bandana with his Ravens uniform, a protest over the organization’s relocation.
1. Stefen Wisniewski. Wiz had the NFL bloodline from the start. His father Leo played four seasons with the Colts and his uncle Steve was a star, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection as an OG with the Raiders.
Stefen started all 77 NFL games he played before arriving in Philadelphia. OL coach Jeff Stoutland would often say that having Wisniewski and Jason Kelce on the field at once was like having two centers to identify protections and shift blocking schemes at the line.
Wisniewski started 24 of his 46 regular-season games with the Eagles, topping out at 11 during the 2017 Super Bowl season when he was at left guard for the entire postseason run.
The Eagles went in a different direction last season but Wisniewski landed on his feet winning a second Super Bowl ring with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Runner-up:
Julian Vandervelde. The former fifth-round pick played 18 games with the Eagles using two numbers, although he was No. 61 for 17 of the 18.
That’s superfluous to what Vandervelde was really known for, a transaction machine who would move between the active roster, the practice squad, and the waiver wire more times than we can count. The joke was that Vandervelde slept on a cot in the Eagles players’ lounge waiting to clear waivers to be brought back. He was the NFL’s version of an NBA G-League prospect being called up and sent down like a Yo-Yo.
Others: Tony Cemore, Joseph Frank, Gordon Paschka, Duke Maronic, John Michels, Tom Louderback, Howard Keys, Arunas Vasys, Tony Guillory, Mark Slater, Ben Tamburello, Matt Long, Eric Floyd, Theo Adams, Giradie Mercer, Adrien Clarke, and Mike Gibson.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
