The Top 10 Eagles who had their best seasons in their 30s

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As 32-year-old Brandon Graham enjoys the best season of his 11-year career, let's take a look at the all-time top-10 Eagles who had their best campaigns after their 30th birthday. By Reuben Frank

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With 32-year-old Brandon Graham enjoying the best season of his 11-year career, we started wondering what other Eagles throughout history had their best seasons in their 30s.

A lot of notable Eagles, such as Reggie White, Brian Dawkins, Terrell Owens and Harold Carmichael, had Pro Bowl seasons well into their 30s. But we wanted to find guys who were better in their 30s than they were in their 20s.

So here are the all-time top-10 Eagles who had their best seasons after their 30th birthday.

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Bosh Pritchard had a career rushing average of 4.4 going into the 1949 season, but at the age of 30 he led the NFL with 6.0 yards per run, which remains the highest in Eagles history by a running back, although Miles Sanders is currently slightly ahead of him (6.03 to 6.02).

Pritchard is one of only four running backs in NFL history to average 6.0 yards per carry in his 30s. Pritchard played only one more season in the NFL, but in 1949 he led the NFL in yards per carry and helped the Eagles win their second NFL Championship in a row.

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Pete Pihos is a Hall of Fame two-way end who spent nine years with the Eagles. He made four Pro Bowls in his first six seasons, but in 1953 he had a career year at the age of 30, leading the NFL with 63 catches for 1,049 yards and 10 touchdowns. Up until that point, he had averaged 31 catches for 472 yards. So he doubled his career production.

Pihos actually averaged 62 catches for 928 yards and nine TDs in three years in his 30s before retiring at 32. He’s still one of only 11 players in NFL history with three straight seasons with 60 catches, 800 yards and seven TDs in his 30s.

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Long before he became Dick Vermeil’s defensive coordinator and then his successor as Eagles head coach, Marion Campbell was a very good defensive tackle. He played eight seasons in the NFL, the last six with the Eagles, but he didn’t make a Pro Bowl until 1959, when he was 30. He made another one at 31 in 1960, when the Eagles won the NFL Championship.

He played only one more season before starting his coaching career, but he remains one of only two Eagles defensive linemen to make his first Pro Bowl in his 30s.

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Pete Retzlaff’s first nine seasons were very good, with five seasons of at least 700 receiving yards. But in his 10th season, at the age of 34, he broke through with 66 catches for 1,190 yards and 10 touchdowns — all career highs. He made first-team All-Pro for the first time and made his fifth Pro Bowl team.

Retzlaff was the only receiver 34 or older with 1,100 yards and 10 or more TDs until Irving Fryar did it for the Eagles in 1996. He remains one of only six Eagles with at least 60 catches, 1,100 receiving yards and 10 TDs in a season.

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Big Stan was a nine-year starter at left tackle for the Eagles but never made the Pro Bowl until 1978, when he was 30. He made another the next year at 31 and then in 1980 was a starter on the Super Bowl team. He’s one of only two Eagles offensive linemen to make multiple Pro Bowls following their 30th birthday after not making a Pro Bowl in their 20s.

After he retired following the 1983 season, Walters joined Merrill Reese in the broadcast booth as the Eagles’ radio color analyst, a role he served for 15 years.

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Irving Fryar had some good years with the Patriots and Dolphins but nothing compared to his first two years with the Eagles. In 1996, at 34, he was 88 for 1,195 with 11 TDs and in 1997 at 35 he was 86 for 1,316 with six TDs. The 1,316 yards are the most in NFL history by a player 35 or older.

Fryar and another former Eagle Cris Carter are the only players in NFL history with two 85-catch seasons at 34 or older. Fryar averaged 36 catches and 571 yards and 3.9 TDs in his 20s and 59 catches and 850 yards in his 30s.

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After six years with the Falcons, two years in incarceration and one year backing up Donovan McNabb, Vick had a career year at 30 years old in 2010, completing 63 percent of his passes with 21 TDs and just six INTs and a 100.2 passer rating — all career bests. He went 8-3, made the Pro Bowl and led the Eagles to the NFC East title. He also rushed for 676 yards and an NFL-best 6.8 yards per carry.

Vick remains the only player in NFL history with 20 TD passes and 600 rushing yards after his 30th birthday.

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After bouncing from the Texans to the Seahawks to the Chiefs to the Eagles to the Titans, Jason Babin was 31 when he arrived in Philly for his second stint with the Eagles. Although he was part of the dreaded Dream Team and had no interest in stopping the run and didn’t even make it through the next season, Babin did record a career-high 18 sacks and make the Pro Bowl in 2011. Only Reggie White and Clyde Simmons had more sacks in a season in Eagles history.

Babin is one of only three players in NFL history with 18 sacks at the age of 30 (along with Michael Strahan and Robert Mathis).

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The Eagles were Evan Mathis’ fourth team in seven years, and he had been a full-time starter only one of those years. But he established himself as a starting left guard for the Eagles in 2011, and two years later, at 32 years old, in his first year working with Jeff Stoutland, he became a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro. Then he made another Pro Bowl in 2014.

Mathis is one of five players in franchise history to make his first All-Pro team in his 30s.

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There have been only three seasons in NFL history in which a player in his 30s had two punt return touchdowns. One was Deion Sanders in 1998. The others? Darren Sproles in 2014 and Darren Sproles in 2015. Sproles’ four punt return TDs after his 30th birthday are an NFL record — only Sanders and Brian Mitchell also had more than one — and Sproles made his first two Pro Bowls at 31 and 32. He also had over 700 scrimmage yards in each of those seasons.

Sproles’ 4,194 scrimmage yards are ninth most in NFL history by a player 30 and over.

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