Reggie White, Seth Joyner, Clyde Simmons, Andre Waters, Wes Hopkins and Eric Allen.
It’s crazy imagining a defense with all those guys.
It’s crazier imagining an owner who let them all leave.
Those six defensive stars all joined the Eagles between 1983 and 1988 and made a combined 19 Pro Bowls. And then in the span of two years – from the end of 1992 through the end of 1994 – they all walked away.
White, who went on to win a Super Bowl and make six more Pro Bowls with the Packers, was a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer in 2006. Allen will join him in Canton on Saturday.
It’s been more than three decades since the great mass exodus orchestrated by former owner Norman Braman, who preferred seeing his franchise decimated than paying free agents market value.
It remains one of the darkest periods in the Eagles’ 93-year history.
Imagine an owner who let six of the greatest defensive players in franchise history – including two Hall of Famers – leave without even trying to keep them?
It wasn’t until Jeff Lurie bought the team and hired Andy Reid that the franchise truly recovered.
“How do you take the most dominant defensive player in the league off your team?” Allen said in a recent interview. “I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now.
“It was difficult. It’s like you’re brothers. We spent so much time together as a defense, and I’m not sure if players today do that, but we spent a significant amount of time together during the season, in the offseason, all the time.
“We would go to each other’s camps. We’d hang out together. We’d take vacations together. We were really tight. We were definitely a brotherhood.”
The mass exit began when White signed with the Packers after the 1992 season without Braman even trying to keep him.
He was only 31 years old and was already a six-time all-pro with 124 career sacks.
“No one ever really did that,” Allen said. “A big-time player in his prime? Free agency was still new, and Reggie was one of the first to take advantage of that and leave. At first, our feelings were kind of hurt by Reggie leaving. But they weren’t even trying to keep him, so we understood.
“How do you not even try to keep Reggie White? He was in his prime, and he was still getting 15, 17 sacks a year.
“We had just lost to Dallas in the divisional round and we felt like all the pieces were in place to really make a run at some things. We thought we were close.
“Then Reggie was gone. Unbelievable. What’s going on here?”
Joyner, Simmons and Waters left after the 1993 season to join former head coach Buddy Ryan with the Cards. Hopkins signed with the Chiefs that summer, although he eventually rejoined the Eagles.
Allen stayed one more year before finishing his brilliant career with the Saints and Raiders.
With that defensive nucleus – along with guys like Jerome Brown, Byron Evans, Mike Pitts, Mike Golic, William Thomas and Andy Harmon – the Eagles allowed the fewest yards in the NFL from 1989 through 1993 and averaged 10 wins per year. They only won one playoff game during that stretch. But it wasn’t because of the defense.
“We were lucky free agency was there for us, but it was definitely a shock and sad to see your brothers all leave the team,” Allen said. “Because at the time that you’re drafted, you think this is going to be my team forever.
“I mean, you make this your home, you move your family there, raise your kids, you’re in a community, you’re doing things, and you kind of envision retiring as an Eagle. We all did.
“You would see some of the veterans who were around. Harold Carmichael was always around and you see the way the city revered those older guys, and you think you’re going to get that opportunity, you know, 15, 20, 25 years down the line, to be one of those older guys going to games, telling stories about the old times, still being a part of the team. I think we all wanted that.
“So it was a changing time and it was really difficult, but you could see how and why those guys exercised their opportunity.”
By the time Allen left Philly, Braman was out and Lurie was in. But the damage had been done.
“I never wanted to leave, but I also didn’t want to be the only one from that group left,” Allen said. “Once Seth and Clyde went to Arizona and then we had a bad year in 1994 (going 7-9), I knew it was my turn.”
Allen was the last man standing in 1994 before signing with the Saints and then finishing his career with the Raiders from 1998 through 2001.
Thomas, drafted by the Eagles in 1991, spent 2000 and 2001 with Allen in Oakland. They both retired after the infamous Tuck Rule game in Foxboro in the 2001 conference semifinal round.
“I knew we were going to have to rebuild, and I didn’t think that was a good position for me to be in,” Allen said. “Being the one guy left and having to tell all the young guys all the stories about all the great players who left?
“It was definitely difficult leaving. But by then, it was something I knew I had to do.”
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