Basically, we are all spoiled, even if it doesn’t always feel like it.
Fans of the Philadelphia Eagles are in the midst of one of the longest, most successful stretches any National Football League fanbase has ever lived through. For more than a quarter-century, the Eagles have been at or near the top of the NFL almost continuously beginning when Jeffrey Lurie bought the team from Norman Braman for a hefty $195 million.
That investment has paid off handsomely for Lurie as the team is conservatively worth $6 billion these days. In the meantime, Eagles fans have been treated to sustained success, three Super Bowls and one of the league’s most consistently entertaining franchises.
Longtime beat writer Zach Berman has chronicled the most recent era of the team in his new book: The Franchise: The Philadelphia Eagles: A Curated History of the Eagles.
In the book, Berman highlights many of the most interesting figures and moments in the last 25 years, told from his first-hand perspective as a beat writer and podcaster for the team over the last decade and a half with the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Athletic and, currently, with PHLY sports at www.allPHLY.com.
The Franchise is the second book from Berman, who previously wrote Underdogs: The Philadelphia Eagles’ emotional Road to Super Bowl Victory.
Berman’s second effort is his considered take on the underlying qualities that have made the Eagles so successful.
“It’s meant to be essence, to give a sense of the coaches, the executives, the players and like the moments during this 25-year period,” Berman said. “I honed in on the time Andy Reid got here and Donovan McNabb was drafted to the present day. It worked out that 25 is a round number but I do think that it is the most successful period in franchise history. I’ve covered half of it. And I lived through the other part of it.”
With a decade-plus of notes and stories to draw from, plus more recent interviews with all the key stakeholders in the Andy Reid era, Berman reached some interesting conclusions.
Most specifically, the Eagles’ current successes can be traced directly to those early days of Lurie’s ownership.
“What stood out to me is that a lot of what they were trying to institute in the early years is still true today,” Berman said. “Whether it came in the way they navigated the salary cap, whether it came to roster management things, they were more aggressive than the rest of the of the NFL was with draft-day trades and extending young players like DeVonta Smith and Landon Dickerson early. They were doing this in the mid-2000s under Joe Banner.”
You get behind-the-scenes stories like standing by Reid for drafting McNabb despite getting a significant offer from the Saints to acquire the rights to Ricky Williams. The owner still stands behind his coaches in the same way.
Berman digs in on the importance of the building of the NovaCare Center practice facility and Lincoln Financial Field. The book discovers and exposes throughlines that have marked this Eagles era.
“When you broaden the lens and look at this from a 25-year period, they’ve had extraordinary success,” Berman said. “From Ray Rhodes before this, and from Andy Reid on, they’ve had four coaches. Three of them brought the Eagles to the Super Bowl. OK. All four made the postseason within two years. That doesn’t happen by accident.”
Berman talked with every quarterback in the era, from McNabb to Jalen Hurts. Every key front office figure, coach and player from the last quarter-century is profiled. It makes for a unique chronicle.
“If this book was written about any of the 31 other NFL teams, there would be 26 to 28 of them probably wouldn’t have the type of history or success like the type of success during this period that the Eagles have had.”
