1971 Eagles

The 1971 Eagles finished with a 6-7-1 record. On the surface that seems like a great improvement from the previous season's 3-10-1 last place finish, but it mattered little because in 1972 they returned to last place with a 2-11-1 record. What a roller coaster! 

These are the cards for the 1971 Eagles. You may be wondering why there is no quarterback card. Long-time veteran Norm Snead was traded to the Vikings in the off-season, and appears on a Vikings card (but in an Eagles' jersey). Snead was replaced by CFL quarterback Pete Liske, but not until just before training camp. 

Aside from not including a quarterback, the position allocation seems a little strange here: 3 running backs, 2 wide receivers (including kick returner Billy Walik instead of veteran starter Ben Hawkins), no offensive linemen, and no middle linebacker.

Except for Tom Woodeshick, Harold Jackson, and Tim Rossovich, all of the cards here are the player's rookie card. The 1970 rookies (Lee Bouggess, Walik, Mark Moseley) appear in the team's current jerseys. Others are shown in the late-1960s' Eagles jersey with stripes around the shoulders.

The 10th Eagles' card in this set is for linebacker Adrian Young, but this is not a photo of Young. It is Rick Duncan, who punted for ONE game in 1968. Why would Topps even have a photo of such a short-short-short timer, but they had trouble finding recent photos for baseball players that were in their 2nd or 3rd full year with a new team? *SMDH*

Details on the individual players can be found in this blog post. 

 

Here are some custom cards I found on the internet:

Pete Liske was the Eagles' #1 QB in 1971 and part of 1972.

Rick Arrington was the 2nd-stringer in 1970 and 1971, then relegated to 3rd string in 1972.

Ron Bull was acquired from the Bears before the 1971 season.

Ron Porter was a starting outside linebacker from 1969-72.

Adrian Young is actually pictured on this card.  The photo is distorted because of enlargement.

Bill Bradley played for the Eagles from 1969-76, and was the starting free safety from 1971-76.

 

Adrian Young - LB

Adrian Young was an outside linebacker for the Eagles from 1968-72. He played for the Eagles for 5 seasons, and was a starter for 1 season (starting all 14 games in 1970).

Young was the Birds' 3rd-round pick in 1968, out of USC. He was selected 2 rounds after his USC teammate Tim Rossovich. He started 3 games as a rookie, and 5 games in 1969. (He also missed much of the 1969 season with torn knee ligaments suffered in training camp.)

After starting all the games in 1970 on the left side, he only started 2 games in 1971 before missing most of that season with injuries. He played 1 game in 1972, then was cut in October.

He soon hooked on with the Lions and played 10 games for them. After the '72 season, he was traded to the Saints, but when waived in September 1973 he landed with the Bears, playing 2 games for them in his final NFL season.

Young also played with the WFL Hawaiians in 1974.

Young only had 1 Topps football card, which erroneously depicted punter Rick Duncan, who played for the Eagles in 1 game in 1968. (I'm not sure why Topps had a Rick Duncan photo handy, let alone mistaking him for Adrian Young.)

Another blogger created a "correction card" for Young in the 1971 style, using a photo I had found for him on the interwebs. (Young is getting blocked by future Eagles coach Rich Kotite.)

"Yo Adrian!"

The Linebackers

Here are most of the Eagles' starting linebackers from 1966 to 1975.


Dave Lloyd was the Birds' starting middle linebacker from 1963 until 5 games into the 1970 season, when he was replaced by Tim Rossovich.

Mike Morgan was the Eagles' starting left linebacker from 1964-67.

Harold Wells (no card) was the starting right linebacker from 1965-68.

Adrian Young was the Eagles' #3 draft pick in 1968, and played left linebacker from 1968-71, although missing most of 1971 due to injury.  By the way, that's not Young's picture on his card.  It's Eagles' 1968 punter Rick Duncan.

  
Ron Porter was acquired from the Colts in 1969, and was the starting right linebacker for 3 years, and the left-side starter during his 4th and last season with the Birds.

Tim Rossovich was the Eagles' #1 pick in 1968.  After 2+ seasons as the starting left end, he moved to MLB after 5 games in 1970, and remained there through the 1971 season.

Steve Zabel was drafted as a tight end in 1970. He moved to linebacker in his 2nd season, and was a starter for his last 4 seasons in Philly - mostly on the left side but occasionally filling in at MLB.

***

After Rossovich didn't pan out following 1971, the Eagles brought in a host of middle linebackers in 1972.  Ex-Charger and Steeler Chuck Allen started 8 games in '72, while Zabel started the other 6 games. (MLBs Dick Absher and Bill Cody worked on special teams.)

In 1973, Allen, Absher, and Cody were out, and ex-tight end Marlin McKeever and Dick Cunningham were in. McKeever made 11 starts in the middle, while Cunningham started 2 games. (I can't find my 1973 Dick Cunningham card, so my new Fred Whittingham 1966 custom card is filling in nicely!)

The Eagles finally put an end to their 4-year middle linebacker carousel by trading for Bill Bergey prior to the 1974 season.  Bill solidified the middle for many seasons to come.

Frank Lemaster and John Bunting played on the wings, giving the Birds a nice linebacking corps, something they were missing since Maxie Baughan was traded after 1965.


(When Dick Vermeil arrived in 1976 he went to a 3-4 defense, with LeMaster moving inside next to Bergey.)

1969 Linebackers:

Middle: 52 - Dave Lloyd, 51 - Ike Kelley
Outside: 50 - Ron Porter, 35 - Adrian Young, 61 - Tony Guillory, 56 - Bill Hobbs, 48 - Jay Johnson

Eagles who also played in the WFL

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I was browsing the 'WFL Rosters' link at the bottom of the right sidebar on this blog, and found these Eagles who also played in the World Football League (1974-75).

The names in green were starters for the Eagles.
Players below the solid line near the end of the list were Eagles after their WFL days.