The 1969 Philadelphia Eagles season was the franchise's thirty-seventh season in the National Football League. The team improved on its previous output of 2–12, winning four games.1969 Philadelphia Eagles
Despite the improvement, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.
Background The Eagles wore both green (for road games) and white (for home games) helmets during the 1969 season. The white helmets then became part of the Eagles' permanent uniform for the next four seasons.
Philadelphia became the first NFL team to play home games on artificial turf when Franklin Field installed AstroTurf prior to this season. The Houston Oilers of the AFL was on its second season on AstroTurf; the team moved into the Astrodome the previous year.
Offseason NFL draft The 1969 NFL/AFL draft was the third and final year in which the NFL and American Football League (AFL) held a joint draft of college players. The draft took place on January 28–29, and the Eagles alternated with the Atlanta Falcons in picking second and third over the seventeen rounds.
The draft began with first overall pick of O. J. Simpson, the Heisman Trophy-winning running back from USC, by the AFL's Buffalo Bills.
During the fourteen-game 1968 season, the Eagles had no wins until November 28 (week twelve) when the team defeated the Detroit Lions (4–8–2) in Detroit 12–0, and on December 8 (week thirteen), defeated the New Orleans Saints (4–9–1) in Philadelphia 29–17.
These victories gave the Eagles a better record than Buffalo (1–12–1) by half a game, and equaled the record of the Atlanta Falcons (2–12), which won the coin flip for the rights to the second pick in the draft, offensive tackle George Kunz from Notre Dame. Future hall of famer "Mean" Joe Greene, defensive tackle from North Texas State, was taken fourth by the Pittsburgh Steelers (2–11–1).
Player selections Round Pick Player Position School 1 3 Leroy Keyes RB Purdue 2 28 Ernest Calloway LB Texas Southern 3 55 Pick Traded to Cleveland Browns 3 69 Bill Bradley DB Texas 4 80 Bob Kuechenberg G Notre Dame 5 107 Jim Anderson G Missouri 6 132 Richard Barnhorst TE Xavier 7 159 Mike Schmeising RB St. Olaf 8 184 Bill Hobbs LB Texas A&M 9 211 Kent Lawrence WR Georgia 9 218 Lynn Buss LB Wisconsin 10 236 Sonny Wade QB Emory & Henry 10 243 Donnie Shanklin RB Kansas 11 263 Jim Marcum DB Texas-Arlington 12 288 Gary Adams DB Arkansas 13 314 Wade Key TE Southwest Texas State 14 340 James Ross T Bishop 15 367 Leon Angevine WR Penn State 16 392 Tom McClinton DB Southern 17 419 Bob Haack T Linfield (Ore.)
Undrafted free agents
+ 1969 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeBurgin BealeQuarterbackElonDennis WhiteDefensive backNorthwestern
Personnel
Staff / Coaches
Roster
Schedule
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 21 Cleveland Browns L 20–27 0–1 Franklin Field 60,658 2 September 28 Pittsburgh Steelers W 41–27 1–1 Franklin Field 60,658 3 October 5 Dallas Cowboys L 7–38 1–2 Franklin Field 60,658 4 October 13 at Baltimore Colts L 20–24 1–3 Municipal Stadium 56,864 5 October 19 at Dallas Cowboys L 14–49 1–4 Cotton Bowl 71,509 6 October 26 New Orleans Saints W 13–10 2–4 Franklin Field 60,658 7 November 2 at New York Giants W 23–20 3–4 Yankee Stadium 62,912 8 November 9 at Washington Redskins T 28–28 3–4–1 RFK Stadium 50,502 9 November 16 Los Angeles Rams L 17–23 3–5–1 Franklin Field 60,658 10 November 23 at St. Louis Cardinals W 34–30 4–5–1 Busch Memorial Stadium 45,512 11 November 30 at New Orleans Saints L 17–26 4–6–1 Tulane Stadium 72,805 12 December 7 Washington Redskins L 29–34 4–7–1 Franklin Field 60,658 13 December 14 Atlanta Falcons L 3–27 4–8–1 Franklin Field 60,658 14 December 21 at San Francisco 49ers L 13–14 4–9–1 Kezar Stadium 25,391 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Standings
References
External links 1969 Philadelphia Eagles at Pro Football Reference 1969 Philadelphia Eagles Statistics at jt-sw.com 1969 Philadelphia Eagles Schedule at jt-sw.com