The surprisingly successful history of Eagles backup QBs

Backup quarterback is one of the most important positions on any football team, and recent Eagles history sure bears that out.

Only once since 2005 has the Eagles’ opening-day quarterback taken every meaningful snap all year, and that was Carson Wentz in 2016.

Every other year, the starter has gotten hurt or benched.

But incredibly, the backups have done almost as well as the starters.

Going back to 2000, which is when the Eagles started the current 23-year run as one of the NFL’s winningest teams, Eagles opening-day starting QBs have a combined 173-114-2 record, which is pretty good – a .602 winning percentage.

But their backups are a combined 45-35 when forced to play, and that’s good for a .563 winning percentage, which isn’t much worse. And if it wasn’t for Mike McMahon, the backups' winning percentage would jump to .589.

As the Eagles prepare to face the Cowboys with Gardner Minshew, let’s take a look at the Eagles' backup quarterback performance every year:

2000, 2001

Donovan McNabb started every game in both 2000 and 2001 and that’s the last time an Eagles QB has started every game in consecutive years.

2002

McNabb suffered a broken ankle against the Cards at the Vet in Week 11 and although he finished the game – and threw four touchdown passes – he missed the rest of the regular season.

With the Eagles sitting 7-3 and in the running for the No. 1 seed, Koy Detmer took over and had the Eagles up 28-10 over the 49ers at Candlestick Park late in the third quarter when he suffered a season-ending injury of his own, a dislocated elbow.

He was replaced by third-stringer A.J. Feeley, who had never taken a meaningful snap. But Feeley put up 10 quick points, the Eagles won 38-17, and Feeley took over for the rest of the season. He led the Eagles to four straight wins and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

McNabb came back for the playoffs, but the backups – Detmer and Feeley – had gone 5-1.

2003, 2004

McNabb again started every meaningful game, although Detmer started against the Bengals on the final day of the 2004 season after the Eagles had the No. 1 seed locked up.

2005

McNabb suffered a sports hernia in the Eagles’ Week 9 loss to the Cowboys and was done for the season.

Mike McMahon was brutal in his seven starts, completing 45 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and eight interceptions. Somehow, the Eagles won two of those games, but McMahon went 2-5 and the Eagles finished a miserable 6-10. 

McMahon’s 45.4 completion percentage was the lowest by an Eagles quarterback since Bobby Thomason’s 44.8 figure in 1952.

2006

After the Mike McMahon debacle, Andy Reid knew he needed a better backup, and he signed former 49ers Pro Bowler Jeff Garcia, who was 36 but was certainly an upgrade.

As it turned out, McNabb got hurt again. This time it was a torn ACL suffered in a Week 10 loss to the Titans at the Linc.

Garcia, four years removed from his last winning season, turned back the clock and was terrific. After a 45-21 loss to the Colts in his first start, he won five straight games to get the Eagles into the playoffs after a 5-6 start.

Garcia won a wild-card playoff game against the Giants, and very nearly pulled off an upset against the Saints at the Superdome in the conference semifinal round. He threw 12 TDs and two INTs in his nine games after replacing McNabb and became the first Eagles backup to win a playoff game since Rodney Peete in 1995. But not the last!

2007

By 2007, Garcia was with the Buccaneers, so when McNabb missed three games with a sprained ankle and injured thumb, Feeley – now in his second stint with the Eagles – got the call.

Feeley’s first start came in Foxboro against the 11-0 Patriots, and the Eagles were a 24.5-point underdog. But Feeley threw two TDs to Greg Lewis and one to Reggie Brown and with four minutes left the Patriots led by only three points at 31-28 and the Eagles were driving deep in Patriots territory. That’s when Asante Samuel picked off Feeley at the Patriots’ 20 to end the game and spoil the Eagles' bid for one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.

Feeley threw four interceptions the next week in a loss to the Seahawks at the Linc, and he never started another game for the Eagles.

2008

Reid benched a struggling McNabb for Kolb at halftime of a Week 13 game against the Ravens, but Kolb did not play well, and McNabb didn't miss any starts.

2009

McNabb’s latest injury was a broken rib suffered in the season-opening win at Carolina.

Kolb, a second-round pick in 2007, made his first two career starts and threw for 391 yards with two TDs and three INTs in a loss to the Saints and then for 327 yards and two TD passes in a win over the Chiefs. He remains one of only two QBs in NFL history (along with Kirk Cousins) to pass for 325 yards and two TDs in each of his first two career starts.

2010

Kolb began the 2010 season as the starter but suffered a concussion on opening day when he was hit by the Packers’ Clay Matthews and lost his job to Michael Vick.

Vick, in his first significant action since 2006, went 8-3 with 21 TDs and six interceptions in 11 starts, although Kolb replaced him for three games and went 2-1 when Vick suffered a rib injury in a Week 4 game against Washington. Considering both Vick and Kolb were backups at different points, the Eagles' backups in 2010 went a combined 10-4 with 27 TDs and 10 INTs.

2011

Broken ribs again sidelined Vick for three games in 2011. Vick got hurt in Week 9 vs. Arizona and Vince Young started three games – the last three games of his career. He beat the Giants in his first start but lost the next two to the Patriots and Seahawks, despite throwing for 400 yards against the Patriots. 

2012

Vick suffered a concussion in a Week 10 loss to the Cowboys and was replaced by third-round pick Nick Foles, who played well for a rookie despite the Eagles’ 1-5 record in his six starts. His last-second TD pass to Jeremy Maclin against Tampa gave Reid his 130th and final win as Eagles head coach.

Foles that year became the first rookie in NFL history to average 240 passing yards per game, complete at least 60 percent of his passes and average one interception every 50 or more attempts.

2013

Despite Foles’ auspicious finish, Vick again was the Eagles’ opening-day quarterback. But he suffered a hamstring injury in a Week 5 game against the Giants and other than one game that Foles missed with a concussion that Vick started (and Matt Barkley finished), Foles played the rest of the season and finished with a historic 27-2 TD-INT ratio and a monster 119.2 passer rating, which has been surpassed only three times – twice by Aaron Rodgers, once by Peyton Manning.

Foles played well in a playoff loss to the Saints – 70 percent, two TDs, no INTs – and made his first and only Pro Bowl team.

2014

Foles was the Eagles’ opening-day starter and had the Eagles at 6-2 when he suffered a broken collarbone in a game at Houston. He was replaced the rest of the season by Mark Sanchez, who went 4-4 in eight starts with 12 TDs and nine interceptions. At one point, he threw for 300 yards in three straight games, tying the franchise record shared by McNabb and Foles. Despite a 10-6 record, the Eagles didn’t make the playoffs.

2015

This was Sam Bradford’s one year with the Eagles, and he missed two games in November after suffering a shoulder injury and a concussion in a Week 10 loss in Miami. Sanchez replaced him for losses to the Buccaneers and Lions by a combined 90-31 score. This was the sad final days of the Chip Kelly Era.

2016

Rookie Carson Wentz started all 16 games and remains the only Eagles rookie QB to start more than seven games in a season.

2017

You may remember this one. Wentz tore his ACL in a late-season win over the Rams at L.A. Coliseum and Foles, now in his second stint with the Eagles, replaced him. Foles won his two meaningful starts – against the Giants and Raiders – to clinch the No. 1 seed.

He then proceeded to have one of the greatest postseason runs in NFL history – 73 percent completion percentage, 971 passing yards, six TDs, two INTs and a 115.7 passer rating. He threw for 373 yards in the Eagles’ 41-33 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis and was named Super Bowl MVP.

2018

This time, Wentz’s season ended with a back injury and once again Foles replaced him, going 3-0 to finish the regular season and then beating the Bears in the playoffs in the famed Double Doink game. The Eagles lost to the Saints a week later in the conference semifinals, Foles’ final game as an Eagle.

2019

Wentz got hurt again, this time suffering a concussion when defensive end Jadeveon Clowney hit him late early in the Eagles' playoff game against the Seahawks. Josh McCown replaced Wentz – and tore his hamstring – and the Seahawks won 17-9. McCown never played again.

2020

After Wentz got benched at halftime of a game against the Packers, Hurts went 1-3 in his first four career starts as a rookie. He’s been the starter ever since.

2021

Gardner Minshew made one meaningful start in his first season with the Eagles, throwing two touchdown passes to Dallas Goedert in a 33-18 win over the Jets. Minshew joined McNabb and Wentz as the third QB in Eagles history to complete 80 percent of his passes for at least 240 yards with two or more TDs and no INTs.

2022

Minshew again will replace Hurts in a late-season road game when the Eagles face the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium Saturday.

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