The Philadelphia Eagles have broken the drought. As the first number one seed to be underdogs throughout the playoffs, the Eagles used the disrespect to their advantage and culminated the 2017 season with a shootout victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
While the team has been an underdog since MVP-hopeful Carson Wentz went down with an ACL tear in December, there are plenty of individual underdogs that make up the Eagles’ roster and it starts at the top.
Here are the Eagles underdogs that made up one of the greatest underdog stories in history. These will be the names that Eagles fans will remember forever.
Mychal Kendricks, Linebacker
Kendricks is another Eagle who has had an up and down career in midnight green. As a second round pick in 2012, Kendricks was an immediate starter for Andy Reid. The rookie showed excellent sideline-to-sideline speed and was excellent in pass coverage, deflecting nine passes.
When Chip Kelly took over, Kendricks switched to inside linebacker and benefited with eleven sacks over the next three seasons. However, like many Eagles during that era, Kendricks was constantly speculated as a player next to be traded. He survived the Kelly era but his inconsistency in 2014 and 2015 helped lead to the worst year of his career in 2016.
Kendricks started just half of the team’s games recording career lows in tackles and pass deflections while failing to record a sack for the first time in his NFL career.
All of that set up a comeback season in 2017 for Kendricks who played arguably the most consistent football of his NFL career and proved to finish plays that he would let get by him in previous years. Notably, Kendricks secured many tackles against running backs one-on-one in the flat, a play that Kendricks has failed on so frequently in his earlier years. Kendricks’ play-making ability showed up again in the pass game, recording his most pass deflections since his rookie year and making his presence felt as a pass rusher with two sacks, his first since early in the 2015 season.
Much of Kendricks’ play time and success came when Jordan Hicks went down for the season with an injury. Kendricks proved to be reliable in the star’s absence and played well alongside linebacker Nigel Bradham.
From forgotten on the bench to next man up, Kendricks fit right in with the theme of the Eagles’ 2017 season.
Nigel Bradham, Linebacker
Bradham was an under the radar signing in 2016. The linebacker worked under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz in Buffalo in 2014 and had a career year, something he has replicated in Philadelphia, once again under Schwartz.
In three seasons without Schwartz, Bradham has averaged 52.3 tackles, 1.7 passes defensed, and 1/3 of a sack per season. In three seasons with Schwartz, Bradham has averaged 97 tackles, 6.7 passes defensed and 1.8 sacks per season.
Bradham was a model of stability at a position that looked uncertain after Hicks’ injury. Whether it were in the run game or dropping in coverage, Bradham was consistent across the board for the Eagles defense.
A below average starter in Buffalo, reuniting with Jim Schwartz made Bradham a stud in the heart of the Eagles defense.
Jake Elliott, Kicker
Elliott was added to the Eagles roster early in the season after starting kicker Caleb Sturgis had a season-ending injury. Elliott spent the preseason on the Cincinnati Bengals roster and the team stashed him on the practice squad, where he didn’t last long.
Elliott was a fifth-round draft choice and the first of three kickers drafted in the 2017 draft. Despite his draft position, the Bengals felt Elliott wasn’t worth an active roster spot. Luckily for him, the Eagles were in need.
Twelve days after the Eagles signed Elliott, he became a superstar in the City of Brotherly Love. With time expiring in a 24-24 game against the New York Giants, Elliott hit a franchise-record 61-yard game-winning field goal and was carried off the field by his teammates. The field goal, with his parents in attendance, won Elliott the special teams player of the year.
Elliott went on to hit 17-of-19 field goals of 40 yards or more during the regular season including five 50+ yarders, the most in a season in Eagles history.
Elliott wasn’t done in the regular season, either. The 23-year-old was a perfect seven-for-seven in the playoffs making the two longest field goals by a rookie in Super Bowl history. His 53-yard field goal to close out the first half against the Atlanta Falcons was the longest postseason field goal by a rookie in NFL history. Elliott rewrote the history books in his rookie season.
From draft pick to practice squad to playoff perfection, Elliott’s rookie season had its fair share of ups and downs that ended with the highest of ups to go along with a long list of new records with his name on them.
Bryan Braman, Specialist
Bryan Braman? You’re damn right Bryan Braman. The “kill, maim, destroy” special teamer spent the first thirteen weeks of the season sitting on his couch waiting for a call. After the Eagles let Braman walk following the 2016 season, he signed with the New Orleans Saints and was released two days before the start of the season after an injury.
Braman stayed in football shape and was ready when the Eagles called to bring him back on December 12th. The career special teamer made his presence felt in the playoffs. In a game that every play was crucial, Braman blocked a punt with less than a minute to go in the first half against the Atlanta Falcons. That block made the field shorter for a struggling Eagles offense that needed a miracle, off-the-knee play to get into range for Elliott to hit his 53-yard field goal.
Three weeks later in the Super Bowl, Braman made another crucial play. With under a minute to go in the game, the Patriots attempted a reverse on a kickoff return that the Eagles sniffed out immediately. Braman was the man in the face of Rex Burkhead who secured the tackle inside the ten yard line, making the Patriots’ attempt at an improbable comeback even more difficult.
After what were probably the longest thirteen weeks of his life, Braman came back to his former team and played a critical role in a playoff run that ended with the team’s first Lombardi Trophy.
The Eagles Super Bowl roster will be remembered forever by Eagles fans. While each member of that roster surely has their own underdog story, these are the biggest underdogs that helped one of the biggest underdog teams in NFL history overcome all adversity to bring home the sport’s biggest prize.
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
