Strong-Legged Tony Franklin is your No. 1 No. 1
We’re here.
T-minus one day to the Eagles 2020 regular-season opener and that will close out our jersey countdown to kickoff with the top No. 1 in franchise history, former placekicker Tony Franklin.
Franklin was one of the better college kickers in history at Texas A&M where he set the record for the longest field goal in Division I-A history with a 65-yard make against Baylor in 1976.
That standard didn’t last long as both Russell Erxleben and Steve Little made 67-yarders in 1977 but Franklin was so well-regarded he ended up as a third-round pick of the Eagles in 1979 after setting 18 NCAA records with the Aggies, including most career field goals, career kick scoring, and most field goals of 50-yards or longer in a career.
The leg strength was shown off quickly in Philadelphia with a 59-yard field goal as a rookie, at the time the fourth-longest make in league history. By 1980 Franklin was the team’s kicker in Super Bowl XV and he spent five years as the Eagles’ PK before being traded to New England in 1984.
Franklin’s best NFL season game with the Pats in 1986 when he led the NFL in scoring with 140 points and made the Pro Bowl as the top kicker in the AFC.
Current Number 1 and No. 3 Overall:
Cameron Johnson. The Eagles’ Aussie punter became an NFL prospect at Ohio State where he developed into an All-Big Ten selection and won a national championship in 2014.
He interned under Donnie Jones with the Eagles in training camp back in 2017 and many had Johnston beating out Jones for the job at the time but it was Jones’ ability as a holder that earned him one more year in Philadelphia which resulted in a Super Bowl LII championship.
By 2018 the Eagles decided to move forward with the strong-legged Johnston, who’s been the punter ever since. This season Philadelphia didn’t even bring in competition for him after Johnston averaged 48.1 and then 46.4 yards per punt over his first two seasons with the job.
Top 2 to wear number 1:
2. Gary Anderson. One of the greatest kickers in NFL history, primarily due to his stints in Pittsburgh and Minnesota, the South-African Anderson spent 1995 and 1996 as the Eagles kicker when he was 36 and 37 years old, making 47 of his 59 field-goal attempts over that span. Anderson was regarded as accurate by that point but lacking leg strength.
Ironically, at age 39 Anderson had the first perfect regular season in NFL history with the Vikings making all 35 field goals and 59 consecutive extra points for the 1998 juggernaut Minnesota team that featured another ex-Eagle at QB in Randall Cunningham. It was an Anderson miss in the NFC Championship Game against Atlanta, however, that cost the Vikings a Super Bowl berth.
Overall, Anderson spent 23 years in the NFL, was a three-time All-Pro, and a member of two different All-Decade teams, the 1980s, and the 1990s.
1. Tony Franklin. See Above
Runner-up: Cody Parkey. Parkey beat out Alex Henery to be the kicker in 2014 and went on to have a Pro Bowl rookie season, making 32 of 36 FGs and all 54 of his extra points for an NFL rookie record of 150 points.
Things went sour in late September of the next season when a groin injury shelved Parkey and Caleb Sturgis took over, beating out Parkey for the job in 2017 before history repeated itself. This time Sturgis was injured and Jake Elliott took over.
Parkey, of course, is also famed in Eagles’ lore for authoring the famed double-doink in the playoffs after the 2018 season while kicking for Chicago. The potential 43-yard game-winner was slightly altered by Treyvon Hester getting a finger-tip on the football and securing a 16-15 win for Philadelphia.
Others to wear No. 1: Happy Feller, Nick Mick-Mayer, and Mat McBriar.
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, and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportMap Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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