A History of the Eagles’ Defensive Backs
1946 Using end Dick Humbert as a guinea pig, Greasy Neale tests a new defense that will, for the first time, employ four defensive backs. He switches from a 5-3-3 to the 5-2-4 for the 1947 season.
1948 Ernie Steele seals the Eagles' first NFL championship with a late interception in the 7-0 title-game victory over the Chicago Cardinals.
1949 Unlimited substitution is allowed, creating new specialists in the secondary.
1950 With Russ Craft intercepting four passes, the Eagles set an NFL single-game record by picking off the Cards' Jim Hardy eight times.
1952 Craft earns the team's first Pro Bowl berth at defensive back.
1953 Tom Brookshier picks off eight passes as a rookie. He spends 1954-55 at the Air Force Academy.
1957 Jerry Norton returns a deflected pass 99 yards to set a team record.
1960 Don Burroughs, acquired from the Los Angeles Rams for a fifth-round pick, intercepts nine passes for the NFL champions.
1961 A leg injury ends Brookshier's career and ruins the Eagles' chances of repeating as champions.
1963 Cornerback Ben Scotti and lineman John Mellekas are hospitalized after a fight in the locker room. Neither plays for the team again.
1970 Nate Ramsey is shot in the chest on a Philadelphia street corner. He returns to play two more years.
1971-72 Bill Bradley leads the league in interceptions in consecutive seasons.
1973 Randy Logan, a third-round pick, starts a streak of 159 consecutive games played at safety.
1978 Herm Edwards scoops up a last-minute New York Giants fumble and returns it for a game-winning touchdown. The play becomes known as "the Miracle of the Meadowlands."
1980 Roynell Young, a first-round pick, immediately becomes the top cornerback on a Super Bowl-bound team.
1986 A year after earning all-pro status, Wes Hopkins is slowed considerably by a knee injury. He returns to play safety through 1993 alongside Andre Waters.
1989 In his second year, Eric Allen picks off eight passes to earn the first of five Pro Bowl berths with the Birds.
1993 Allen ties a league record by returning four interceptions for touchdowns.
1996 Brian Dawkins is drafted in the second round, and Troy Vincent is signed from the Miami Dolphins.
1999 Dawkins and Vincent are chosen for the Pro Bowl for the first time.
2002 Lito Sheppard, Sheldon Brown, and Michael Lewis are selected with the team's first three draft picks.
2002 Dawkins becomes the first NFL player to have an interception, sack, TD catch (on a fake punt), and fumble recovery in the same game.
2004 Sheppard and Brown take over as starters at the corners for Vincent and Bobby Taylor. Sheppard is later chosen to the Pro Bowl along with Dawkins and Lewis.
2008 Asante Samuel is signed from the New England Patriots, becoming the team's top-paid defensive player.
2008 Dawkins sets a team mark for games played (183).
- Compiled by David Cohen