DONOVAN McNabb thinks he belongs in the NFL Hall of Fame, and he’s 100% correct.
There are 32 NFL franchises. He is currently the All-Time greatest QB of one of those franchises. That alone should be enough to punch his ticket. In fact, the NFL should consider it a blemish, that one of their franchises isn’t properly represented. The Eagles organization should consider it a slight, and publicly say as much.
I won’t get too deep into McNabb’s resume. I did that in 2014, when I wrote ENDING THE McNABB DEBATE FOREVER.
I do want to touch on a few points though, because otherwise I can’t bring up QB Carson Wentz.
More on Carson in a sec. First, here is a list of reasons McNabb is the EAGLES All-time best:
Games Played: 148 <#1 All-time>
Starter W/L: 92-49-1 (.647) <#1 All-time> (Next closest: Randall Cunningham 63-43-1 (.588)
Playoffs: 9-7 .562 <#1 All-time> (Next closest: Ron Jaworski at 3-3 (.500))
Passing Yards: 32,873 <#1 All-time> (Next closest: Jaws with 26,963)
TD’s: 216 <#1 All-time> (Next closest: Jaws with 175)
Completion %: 59.0 <#1 All-time> (Next closest Cunningham 55.7) (NFL minimum 1,500 attempts to qualify)
Rating: 86.5 <#1 All-time> (Next closest Cunningham 78.7) (NFL minimum 1,500 attempts to qualify)
Wentz currently has 1,448 career passing attempts. He is just 52 attempts away from qualifying for consideration on this list. Currently Wentz owns a completion percentage of 63.7. His interception percentage is a gaudy 1.7%. His career passer rating is 92.5 and it has only gone up every year. (79.3 in 2016, 101.9 in 2017, 102.2 in 2018).
Understand, he is likely just 52 attempts away from surpassing McNabb in each of those categories. The thing is, how is surpassing McNabb important, if McNabb’ marks are without merit? For Wentz to be king of the mountain, the mountain must first be acknowledged.
Otherwise, all we’re doing is setting Wentz up for what’s happened to both McNabb and Randall Cunningham. During McNabb and Cunningham’s careers, they were important to that era of the NFL.
You cannot talk about NFL history in the late 1980’s – early 1990’s without bringing up Cunningham’s contributions to the sport, his dominance on the field, and how he helped change the perception of Black QB’s. That’s NFL culture, and our QB is barely regarded as a footnote.
You cannot discuss the NFL’s early 2000’s without mentioning the Eagles becoming the NFL’s Gold Standard for building a franchise, and McNabb as the cornerstone of that philosophy and the Andy Reid era of consistent success.
These are the mountain on which Carson will soon stand. However, if we Eagles fans allow the mountain to be minimized to a mole hill, we undercut any future success of Carson Wentz aside from a possible Super Bowl win.
McNabb is deserving. Hell, looking back at what he’s meant to the sport, I would also argue that Cunningham is as well. The problem here is when the national media scoffs at McNabb saying that he is deserving, many in our own fan base, scoff as well.
What say we Eagles fans do something new, and push for one of OURS to get their due, and overdue recognition. How about we use our outdoor voices to make sure that Philly’s players stop being disregarded and overlooked.
Our mountain is a true mountain, and it’s high time we made that clear to the world.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 