Interesting Names at No. 3 for Eagles

With only three days between fans and the Eagles’ 2020 season-opener against the newly-minted Washington Football Team, the jersey countdown to kickoff isn’t going to spark much reminiscing, but there have been some interesting players who have worn the No. 3 for Philadelphia.

The list starts with a former New York Jets savior in Mark Sanchez and two kicking legends in other cities, Mark Moseley for Washington and Eddie Murray with Detroit.

Ironically, Moseley, once the NFL’s MVP (yes a kicker won the MVP award in the strike-shortened 1982 campaign) started his career with the Eagles in 1970 and Murray was on fumes as a competent 38-year-old stop-gap in 1994.

Sanchez gets the nod as the most impactful No. 3, starting 10 games in the Chip Kelly era due to injuries to Nick Foles in 2014 and Sam Bradford in 2015.

The former No. 5 overall pick of the Jets actually won four of his eight starts in 2014 and looked good at times, completing 64.1 percent of his passes and throwing 14 touchdowns. Sanchez, however, was often too prone to the back-breaking mistake and that followed him down the Jersey Turnpike to Philadelphia.

Current number 3:

Unassigned. Closed-circuit to anyone interested. No. 3 could be an easy path to history in future jersey countdown to kickoff exercises.

Top 3 to wear number 3:

3. Eddie Murray. Murray spent 12 years with the Lions as a seventh-round pick out of Tulane. He was an incredible value, earning either first- or second-team All-Pro recognition four times during that span and ultimately tying Gary Anderson, another short-term Eagles player, as No. 2 behind Morten Andersen, in voting for the 1980s All-Decade Team.

Once Murray finished with the Lions he took his act on tour to a host of cities as a competent but aging alternative for organizations struggling with consistency. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1994 and made 21 of 25 field-goal attempts and all 33 of his extra points.

2. Jack Concannon. Concannon was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1964 AFL Draft by the then-Boston Patriots but went the more established route and chose Philadelphia, where he was a second-round draft pick. A quarterback/halfback out of Boston College, Concannon spent three seasons with the Eagles but couldn’t unseat Norm Snead. He did start three games and won all of them but is probably best known for the trade that sent him to Chicago, which brought Hall of Fame tight end Mike Ditka to the Eagles.

1. Mark Sanchez. See above.

Runner-up:

Mark Moseley. Moseley caught on with the Eagles as a 14th-round pick out of Stephen F. Austin in 1970. It wasn’t a great start for Mosely in the era of straight-on kickers and he made only 14 of 25 field goals as a rookie and missed three PATs on top of that.

By 1971 he was closer to home in Houston and then out of football for two years before catching on with the then-Redskins in 1974 where things took off for him. Moseley was a two-time Pro Bowl selection inside the Beltway, the 1982 NFL MVP, and a Super Bowl XVII champion.

Others: Roger Kirkman, Todd France, Reggie Hodges, Nick Murphy, and Mike Kafka.

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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