The 1976Philadelphia Eaglesseason was the franchise’s 44th in the National Football League. It was the first year with the team for head coach Dick Vermeil, who would bring the Eagles to their first playoff berth in eighteen seasons in 1978 and then their first Super Bowl just two seasons later. As for this season, the Eagles matched their 4–10 record from last season and failed to reach the playoffs for the sixteenth consecutive season. This was also the tenth straight season for Philadelphia in which they did not end the season with an above.500 record.
Offseason
After coaching #12 UCLA to a win over #1 Ohio State in the 1976 Rose Bowl by the score of 23–10 Dick Vermeil was offered the Head coaching job of the Philadelphia Eagles. Because of bad trades by past Eagles coaches, Vermeil did not have a 1st round draft pick until 1978, but Vermeil did big things with the talent he had inherited from previous coaches.
The 1976 NFL Draft was an annual player selection meeting held on April 8–9, 1976. It lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks making the first two selections. The expansion teams were also given a pair of extra picks at the end of each of rounds 2-5. The Philadelphia Eagles would pick 9th in the 17 rounds. They still had to overcome the traded away draft picks of the Mike McCormack era. The draft began with first overall pick of Hall of FamerLee Roy Selmon, Defensive End from Oklahoma, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Eagles had to wait until the fourth round and make a selection with the 111th pick.
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.
Roster
Regular season
Vincent Papale
, at 6-feet 2-inches and 195 pounds, was a long shot to make the Eagles roster. At age 30, Papale became the oldest rookie in the history of the NFL to play without the benefit of college football experience. He went on to play wide receiver and special teams for the Eagles. Papale earned the nickname “Rocky” while playing with Philadelphia. He is the subject of the Disney movieInvincible, starring Mark Wahlberg.
Schedule
A game against the St. Louis Cardinals on October 10 was originally scheduled to be played at Veterans Stadium, however was relocated to St. Louis due to a Philadelphia Phillies game being played at Veterans Stadium on the same day. Consequently, the game on November 7 that was originally scheduled to be played in St. Louis was moved to Philadelphia.
