The 1996 season was the

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 ...

' 64th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). The team matched their 10–6 record from the previous season and qualified for the playoffs for the second year in a row. After a season-ending injury to Rodney Peete, Ty Detmer took over the starting role. For the second time in three seasons, the Eagles were 7–2 at the nine-game mark, thanks to a thrilling win November 3 on the road against Dallas. The capper to that contest was a combined 104-yard interception return between James Willis and

Troy Vincent Troy Darnell Vincent (born June 8, 1970) is a former American football cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Dolphins as the 7th ...

in the final moments which turned a potential game-winning drive by the Cowboys into a Philadelphia victory. As in 1994 under Rich Kotite, the Eagles wilted. This time four losses in five games, including an embarrassing 27-point setback on national TV at Indianapolis, had the team scrambling in the playoff picture. However, wins against the Jets and Cardinals managed to right the ship, and a wild-card matchup with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

was the reward. However, the Eagles' season would end 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 Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

, home of the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Eagles signed college free agent Hollis Thomas, a defensive tackle out of

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

. The Eagles signed former

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

cornerback

as a free agent. Veteran

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 would rotate picking between the 23rd pick to the 25th pick in the 7 rounds. They would choose 8 players in the 6 rounds they had picks. With their first pick in the draft, the Eagles would take Jermane Mayberry an Offensive Tackle out of Texas A&M-Kingsville 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.

Offseason

NFL draft

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 10

Standings

Playoffs

References

External links