My Favorite MLB

The Eagles have had a lot of good middle linebackers and inside linebackers over the years. If you just focus on the Super Bowl era, you have Bill Bergey, Kurt Gouviea, Jeremiah Trotter, Stewart Bradley (for one great year), DeMeco Ryans and now Jordan Hicks.

My favorite MLB is still Byron Evans.

I wrote a piece on him for PE.com. It can be so easy to overlook him because he was surrounded by stars. As good as Evans was, he was never the best LB on the Eagles. Seth Joyner had that title from 1987-1993. When he left after that year, William Thomas was the top LB. Evans just sat in the middle of the defense, making plays and kicking ass.

He had long arms and big hands. Just look at the pic above and see how he held the ball. I loved the way he would hold the ball if he got his hands on it.

Interception! @sethjoyner w/ the pressure leads to Byron Evans picking off Aikman! #DALvsPHI #MNF #1992 #Eagles pic.twitter.com/ANZFP6xRRB

— MyPhilaEagles (@MyPhilaEagles) February 3, 2016

Probably not all that smart, but I was young and thought it looked cool.

Each and every time I watch the #Eagles D from this era, Byron Evans stands out. 6'2 235. Sideline to sideline player. Tough. Instinctive. pic.twitter.com/OFnZ7NgzGf

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) May 15, 2017

Byron Evans doing Byron Evans things in the 1992 Wildcard Round vs the Saints. I see you @sethjoyner! #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/LQHK6EiGJQ

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) May 17, 2018

More Byron Evans. Sheesh! Every time I watch the teams from this era he is all over the place. So much fun to watch this whole defense. pic.twitter.com/ssAcQuwXyi

— Fran Duffy (@fduffy3) May 17, 2018

Evans came up very big in that win over the Saints. Seth and Eric Allen came up with picks. Reggie had a safety. BE made his share of tackles, but also was very effective at playing the passing lanes. He was involved in some key stops.

Evans was a hitter. Where Trotter would run you over like a runaway locomotive, Evans exploded into runners and receivers. He came into the league at 225 pounds so he wasn’t a guy who relied on size. He played in the 235 range in the NFL.

I do wonder what would have happened if he had stayed healthy in 1994. The team was 7-3 after his injury. They lost the final six games without him. One loss by seven, one by six and two by three points. Evans would have helped the team win at least one more game, possibly two. They had a realistic shot at the postseason.

And it would have been great if Evans had been re-signed after the year and played for Ray Rhodes.

Instead, he never played again.

*****

Some of you thought I was nuts for posing the Foles vs Bradford question.

Foles has never started more than 11 games in a year.

2012 – Took over for Mike Vick when he got hurt.
2013 – Ditto
2014 – Had the job to open the season and then Foles got hurt at midseason.
2015 – Opened as Rams starter and was benched after Week 12
2016 – Backup in KC
2017 – Backup in PHI

Foles is a great backup and spot-starter, but he’s never started a full season and played at a high level. That’s what makes him so interesting. How do you evaluate Foles? How do you quantify his accomplishments?

90 percent of Twitter answered me with “Super Bowl MVP”, but I think that’s somewhat of an overly simplistic answer.

The topic interested me more than anyone else. The rest of the world saw this as a rhetorical question.

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