1996 Philadelphia Eagles season

Background

After a season-ending injury to Rodney Peete, Ty Detmer took over the starting role. For the second time in three seasons, the Eagles stood at 7–2 at the nine-game mark, thanks to a fan-thrilling win November 3 on the road against Dallas. The cap to that contest was a combined 104-yard interception return between James Willis and Troy Vincent during the game's final moments, which turned a potential game-winning drive by the Cowboys into a Philadelphia victory.

But, as it did in 1994 under Rich Kotite, the team wilted. This time, after piling up four losses in five games, including an embarrassing 27-point setback on national TV at Indianapolis, the team scrambled in the playoff picture. Wins against the Jets and Cardinals managed to right the ship, however, resulting in a wild-card matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. Despite that success, the Eagles' season ended in San Francisco with a 14–0 first-round loss to the 49ers.

The 1996 season was also the first season the Eagles debuted the midnight green, white, and black look, with new helmet designs and the logo and endzone font as well.

Offseason

The Eagles held training camp for the first year at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, home of the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.

The Eagles signed college free agent Hollis Thomas, a defensive tackle out of Northern Illinois, and also signed former Miami Dolphins cornerback Troy Vincent as a free agent.

Veteran San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Steve Wallace was signed via free agency to a one-year contract, but after a poor showing in the preseason was cut at the end of training camp and promptly re-signed by the 49ers.

NFL draft

The 1996 NFL draft was held April 20–21, 1996. No teams elected to claim any players in the supplemental draft that year.

With a 10–6 record in 1995, and tying with two other teams, the Eagles rotated picking between the twenty-third pick to the twenty-fifth pick during the seven-round draft and chose eight players in the six rounds in which it had picks. During its first pick, the Eagles chose Jermane Mayberry, an offensive tackle from Texas A&M-Kingsville.

The table below shows the Eagles selections, what picks it had that were traded away, and the teams that ended up with those picks. (It is possible that Eagles' picks ended up with those team via trades made by the Eagles with other teams.)

Staff

• Owner/Chief Executive Officer – Jeffrey Lurie

• Senior Vice President of Administration – Joe Banner

• Director of Football Operations – Dick Daniels

• Director of College Scouting – John Wooten

• Director of Scouting – Chuck Banker

• Head Coach – Ray Rhodes

• Offensive Coordinator – Jon Gruden

• Running Backs – Dick Jamieson

• Wide Receivers – Gerald Carr

• Tight Ends – Ted Williams

• Offensive Line – Bill Callahan

• Offensive Assistant – Juan Castillo

• Defensive Coordinator – Emmitt Thomas

• Defensive Line – Mike Trgovac

• Linebackers – Joe Vitt

• Defensive Assistant – Chuck Knox Jr.

• Special Teams – Danny Smith

• Strength and Conditioning – Mike Wolf

• Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Tom Kanavy

• Part-Time Strength and Conditioning – Martin Streight

• Volunteer Strength and Conditioning – Kevin Tolbert

Roster

53 active, 3 inactive, 5 practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 10

Standings

Playoffs

References

References

1. (April 19, 1996). "Eagles Land 49ers' Veteran Steve Wallace". Associated Press.
2. Frank, Reuben. "10 former Eagles you may have forgotten won Super Bowls". NBC Sports Philadelphia.
3. [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199611030dal.htm Pro-Football-Reference.com]. Retrieved 2013-Dec-30.