The

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

season was their 20th in the league. The team improved on their previous output of 4–8, winning seven games.1952 Philadelphia Eagles
/ref> The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

Off season

Head coach

Wayne Millner Wayne Vernal Millner (January 31, 1913 – November 19, 1976) was an American college and professional football player who was known for his clutch play as an offensive and defensive end for both the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and for the Nation ...

took over, for ailing head coach

Bo McMillin Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin (January 12, 1895 – March 31, 1952) was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-tim ...

in 1951, would resign on September 8, 3 weeks before the 1952 season started, citing health as the reason for stepping down.

NFL Draft

The

1952 NFL Draft The 1952 National Football League Draft was held on January 17, 1952, at Hotel Statler in New York. Selections made by New York Yanks were assigned to the new Dallas Texans. This was the sixth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick d ...

was held on January 17, 1952. Picks made by

New York Yanks The New York Yanks were an American football team that played in the National Football League under that name in the 1950 and 1951 seasons. Season by season overview 1949 The team began in 1944 as the Boston Yanks, owned by Kate Smith's manag ...

were assigned to the new Dallas Texans franchise. There were 12 teams picking for 32 rounds. The Eagles made the 4th pick in each round and made 31 picks in the 32 rounds they had picks in. The New York Yanks had the Eagles pick in the 5th round. The Los Angeles Rams received this year's lottery bonus pick. The Rams used it to pick

Bill Wade William James Wade (October 4, 1930 – March 9, 2016) was an American football quarterback who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL). He is considered one of the greatest athletes in Nashville and Vanderbilt University h ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

out of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. The Eagles used their number-4 pick in the 1st round to take

Johnny Bright John Dee Bright (June 11, 1930 – December 14, 1983) was an American professional football player in the Canadian Football League. He played college football at Drake University. He is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the Nation ...

a back of

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. His ...

. Johnny Bright, was chosen before fellow backs and future NFL

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

members

Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Foo ...

from

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

and

Hugh McElhenny Hugh Edward McElhenny Jr. (December 31, 1928 – June 17, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a halfback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1952 to 1964 for the San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, New York ...

out of

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, passed up playing for the Eagles. Bright later commented:

Player selections

The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

Regular season

Schedule

Game recaps

Week 1: @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 2: vs New York Giants

Week 3: vs Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 4 vs Cleveland Browns

Week 5 at New York Giants

Week 6 at Green Bay Packers

Week 7 vs Washington Redskins

Week 8 vs Chicago Cardinals

Week 9 at Cleveland Browns

Week 10 at Chicago Cardinals

Week 11 vs Dallas Texans

Week 12 at Washington Redskins

Standings

Playoffs

With a record of 7–5, the Eagles fall one game back of Cleveland and failed to make the playoffs. The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams would tie for the National Division title and had to play a Division Championship game before meeting Cleveland in the

1952 NFL Championship Game The 1952 NFL Championship Game was the 20th annual championship game, held on December 28 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. The Detroit Lions (9–3) were the National Conference champions and met the Cleveland Browns (8–4) ...

Roster

''(All time

List of Philadelphia Eagles players This is a complete list of American football players who have played for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). It includes players that have played at least one game in the NFL regular season. The Philadelphia Eagles franch ...

in franchise history)''

Postseason

At the end of the season,

Bud Grant Harry Peter "Bud" Grant Jr. (born May 20, 1927) is a former head coach and player of American football, Canadian football, and a former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Grant served as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings ...

was offered a pay raise in his contract. He chose to play football in the CFL(

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

) instead. He had a career worthy of being named to the CFL's Hall of Fame as a player. Later on he made the Pro Football Hall of Fame as coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

Awards and honors

Pro Bowl Players * Chuck Bednarik and Pete Pihos both make the Pro Bowl 1st team. * Russ Craft and Bucko Kilroy selected to the Pro-Bowl team as back-ups. League leaders * Bud Grant finishes 2nd in receptions with 56. * Bud Grant finishes 2nd in receiving yards with 997 yds. * Adrian Burk leads league in number of punts with 83 and 40.2 yds avg * Bobby Walston finishes 2nd with 11 field goals made.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1952 Philadelphia Eagles Season Philadelphia Eagles seasons

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...