A Hall of Famer vs. Chris Gocong?

The No. 57 hasn’t foreshadowed great success when it comes to the Eagles but a Hall of Famer did wear the uniform for a very brief time.

The No. 57 hasn’t foreshadowed great success when it comes to the Eagles but a Hall of Famer did wear the uniform number in Philadelphia for a very brief time.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher was a linebacker for the Eagles in 1983-84, playing in 20 games as a backup and special teams option. You can bet the 161 wins and Super Bowl XL championship as the leader of the Steelers headlines the resume for Cowher, though.

As far as on-field work with the Eagles, there are no Hall of Famers or players even close with former LB Chris Gocong topping the list.

Gocong was an interesting draft pick back in 2006 as a third-rounder out of Division I-AA Cal Poly where he was a two-time All-American and the winner of the Buck Buchanan Award in 2005, given to the nation’s best defensive player at that level.

Gocong was a pass-rushing terror at Cal-Poly, setting a Division I-AA record 23.5 sacks as a senior but his frame at 6-foot-2 and about 250 pounds screamed out tweener at the pro level.

The Eagles thought Gocong showed enough lateral movement skills and made the pick with the intent of moving Gocong to SAM LB. The transition was delayed by injury as a rookie but by 2007 he was inserted as a starting LB who occasionally rushed the passer from the edge.

He held that role for the duration of his rookie contract, playing in 47 of a possible 48 regular-season games over the next three seasons and starting 35 of them. The pass-rush part of things never materialized and Gocong finished his Eagles’ career with just four sacks but he did accumulate 15 tackles for loss and nine passes defended.

Gocong was actually signed to a one-year extension in 2010 but was quickly traded to Cleveland, along with cornerback Sheldon Brown, for LB Alex Hall and fourth- and fifth-round picks in the 2010 draft. He spent two more years as a starter with the Browns.

Current Number 57:

T.J. Edwards. A 2019 undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin, Edwards will have a big opportunity to garner playing time this season after the departure of Nigel Bradham and Kamu Grugier-Hill.

At 240 pounds Edwards is the only traditional LB the Eagles have outside of another undrafted option from this year, Montana product Dante Olson. In the modern game, you don’t play a ton of base defense and the Eagles figure to be in a 4-3 front anywhere from 20 to 25 percent of the time with Edwards being the Mike linebacker.

The real question is the sub-packages and who is on the field in the nickel, dime, and dime-plus. One three-down LB is expected to be the emerging Nate Gerry while Edwards is the clubhouse leader to be the second option with plenty of others in the mix like Duke Riley, Jatavis Brown, and rookie Davion Taylor.

Top 3 to wear number 57:

3. Keith Adams. An undersized Clemson product, Adams was a sneaky good, waiver-wire pickup back in 2002 as the replacement for second-round bust Quinton Caver. He first turned into one of the best special-teams players in the league under the tutelage of John Harbaugh, leading the NFL in ST tackles in 2003.

By the next season, the 5-foot-11 Adams remained perhaps the Eagles' best special teams player and also had a run at Will LB when Mark Simoneau went down with an injury. Adams was a starter throughout the playoffs in the run to Super Bowl XXXIX where he was credited with seven tackles and a pass defense in the 24-21 setback to New England.

In 2005 Adams won the job outright and started 16 games, tallying a career-high 101 tackles. Overall, he spent the majority of his career in Philadelphia, spending parts of four seasons with the Eagles but only the one as a full-time starter.

2. James Darling. Darling ended up playing a decade in the NFL after being drafted by the Eagles in the second round of the 1997 draft out of Washington State. He was a spot starter as a rookie as the SAM LB and took over that role for the next two seasons. By the end of his rookie contract and the second season of Andy Reid, Darling was reduced to a backup role and was out of town by the 2001 season.

Darling ultimately became a starter again in Arizona during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. With the Eagles, the WSU product played in 61 games and started 24.

1. Chris Gocong: See Above.

Runner-up:

Bill Cowher. Cowher was set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame next month but the ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pomp and circumstance, however, doesn’t compare to the honor and Cowher figures to be just the second Canton stop on Pittsburgh’s amazing run of continuity at head coach. Since 1968 the Steelers have had three coaches. Chuck Noll and now Cowher are HOFers and Mike Tomlin figures to join them someday.

Perhaps Cowher’s most famous moment as a player came when he tackled Jeff Fisher, breaking the latter’s leg. The two would both go on to be long-time NFL head coaches and good friends.

Others: Ernie Calloway, James Reed, Mike Osborn, Mike Curcio, Tom Polley, Scott Kowalkowski, Marc Woodard, Keenan Clayton, Adrian Moten, Jason Williams, Travis Long, Dannell Ellerbe, and D.J. Alexander.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen