Philly Front Office

It’s not a crazy thing to say that in just 8 seasons with the Eagles, Reggie White is the best defensive player, and maybe THE single best player, to ever play for the organization. My only problem is that I don’t know anything about him. I am just a smidge too young to remember his career with the Birds. I did see him win a Super Bowl with the Packers though and that’s how I remember him. I’m trying to fix that.

The Ever-Increasing NFL Salary Cap

Career Sacks

The Minister of Defense is the single greatest sack artist of all time. Full stop. With him first, putting anyone else in second is probably an insult. His sheer numbers are mind boggling. 198 for his career ranks 2nd all time. Wait, if he’s second, how could you just say what you just said? Yes, Bruce Smith of the Bills is technically first with 200, but he tallied his 2 extra sacks in 47 more games than White’s 232. That’s damn near 3 whole seasons! 3rd place¹ is Kevin Greene at 160 in 227 games. In 5 less games than White, Greene is over two all-time record seasons behind. Von Miller is the active leader, a mere 64.5 sacks back.

The crazy part is that White didn’t start in the NFL until he was 24, compared to Smith’s 22. Why is that? Because he spent his first two seasons out of college at Tennessee in the USFL. Granted the competition was different, but White had 23.5 sacks in 34 games. In Smith’s first two seasons, he had 21.5 sacks. Whether you take those away or add White’s USFL numbers, a level playing field shows there is no contest.

Really helping his career numbers in this regard is the fact that in his entire 15 year career, he only missed one game due to injury. He tore his hamstring (!) on December 3rd, 1995 and only missed 1 game. That was it. Even at 39 years old after taking a year off and returning to play for the Carolina Panthers, he played all 16.

Single Season Sacks

The single season sack record is 22.5 by TJ Watt (15 games) and Michael Strahan (16 games. When Strahan did it, it really pissed off Mark Gastineau. Gastineau held the record at 22 since 1984 and he didn’t take too kindly to Brett Favre laying down for Strahan to take it from him. Why do I bring this up? Because none of that is nearly as impressive as who was number 2 on this list for all those years. Yes, obviously I’m talking about Reggie White again.

In 1987, the NFL was going through labor problems. The players went on strike for 4 weeks and replacement players were hired to play in 3 games (the 4th game was cancelled). Reggie White did not play in any of those games. Well, in those 12 games White did play, he managed 21 f’n sacks! 21 in 12 games. That’s completely outrageous. If the professionals couldn’t manage to stop Reggie, what do you think the replacement players would have done? The record would still stand today and likely come with the taint of an asterisk because no one would believe it. Scabs aside, his 1.75 sacks per game would have translated to 28 for the season. As a funny side note, do you know who did play those 3 weeks with replacement players? Mark Gastineau. He tallied 1 sack. I hope selling out your boys was worth it Mark.

It’s worth noting that of the top 100 sack seasons of all time, Reggie White has 5 of them. His 9 consecutive seasons with double digit sacks is a record.

Individual Honors

In his 14 years with Philly and Green Bay, the one year he didn’t make an All-Pro team was as a rookie when he only played in 13 games (he didn’t join the team until after the season started). Those 13 All Pro selections included 6 consecutive first team nods (of 8 overall) from 1986-1991, all but his first and last with the Eagles.

He won Defensive Player of the Year only twice, but the honors were 11 years apart in 1987 and 1998. Between the wins, he finished with votes 8 other times.

After his rookie season he made 13 consecutive Pro Bowls.

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Team Honors

With the Eagles, it’s a little sad to say, but the most the team won was the hearts of the fans in 1991. This was the defense led by White, Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, Seth Joyner, and Eric Allen. It is regularly considered one of, if not the best defenses ever constructed. The only problem was that the Ultimate Weapon Randall Cunningham tore his ACL in the first quarter of the first game and the offense was crippled from then on. The defense though only gave up a 44.1 competition percentage, had 55 sacks, forced 43 fumbles, and picked off 23 passes. The yards allowed both passing and rushing are some of the lowest ever. They didn’t play duds either as this was the era where Dallas, Washington, and New York were actually good and the Eagles had to play them twice each. Unfortunately, without Randall, they didn’t even make it to the playoffs.

With the Packers, it is a different story. The 1996 team was a dominant 13-3 during the regular season and marched to the Super Bowl where White had 3 sacks. The championship was the only one he ever had at any level.

Off the Field

There are 2 big off the field stories of White’s life. The first, is that he was the first real big free agent in football history. How did that happen? Well, he sued the NFL. White vs NFL is a landmark case in labor rights history as it finally brought true free agency to football. Because of this, he was the first high profile free agent to change teams when he left Philly and signed with the Green Bay Packers. Unlike Mark Gastineau, White actually cared about his teammates.

Well, as long as they weren’t gay. White made headlines after his playing career ended and actually lost a job as an analyst for saying derogatory things about homosexuals. He claimed this was part of his beliefs with the church as he was famously a literal minister.

White died in his sleep at age 43.

His number was retired by both the Eagles and Packers and he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2006.

Simply put, Reggie White may have been the most dominant defensive presence the league has ever seen.

1. There is an unofficial and official list of sacks because they weren’t a true stat until 1982. Deacon Jones has 173. ↩︎