Going Back to the 1960s to find No. 1 at No. 52

Eagles MLB Dave Lloyd took the top spot, but the runner-up is a personal story of mine

Here we are again, arriving at one of those uniform numbers in Eagles history where there are no real standouts except for our-top ranked player to wear No. 52, Dave Lloyd from the 1960s, so I’m going to make this personal and introduce everyone to my runner-up, Rich Kraynak.

Kraynak was a year older than me in school but we were decent friends and played high school football together, helping our school go undefeated for the first and last time in its history.

I don’t remember much about the heavy forearm Kraynak delivered to my helmet, which never seemed to fit right, during a practice drill that knocked me unconscious – one of two times playing sports that I had been knocked out cold.

What I do remember is coming to with a coach standing over me waving smelling salts under my nose telling me I was all right. I guess I was, because I was right back in the drill.

Kraynak went on to Pitt where he remained the same stud that he was in high school then the Eagles selected him in the 8th round of the 1983 draft. He spent four seasons with the Eagles, including his final one under Buddy Ryan, who had been hired in 1986.

Kraynak played mostly special teams in his 52 games played, then went to Atlanta for a season, starting eight games, before calling it a career.

And that’s the end of the story, except one more thing. I wore the number 52 in high school.

Now, on to more about the No. 52 that you may actually care about:

Current number 52:

Davion Taylor. There seem to be two words that have been attached to the Colorado linebacker since the Eagles made him their third-round draft pick this past spring: fast and raw.

Yeah, he’s quick, clocking a 4.49 in the 40 at the Scouting Combine in February.

Yeah, he’s raw, playing only two games in high school because Friday nights conflicted with is beliefs as a Seventh Day Adventist. Taylor didn’t really begin to play full-time until enrolling in a community college.

It’s a great story, but can he become a great player or at least a serviceable one to start out?

We will find out soon enough.

Top 3 to wear number 52:

Ray Phillips. The linebacker arrived early in the 1978 season after having started his career as a fifth-round draft pick of the Bengals in 1977. Over the next three-and-a-half years in Philly, Phillips made it into 53 games with five starts. He was a reserve on the Eagles’ 1980 Super Bowl team.

Barry Gardner. A linebacker who came in the second-round of the draft out of Northwestern in 1999, he played all 64 games in his four years with the Eagles. Gardner was mostly used as a backup and on special teams, but he did make 18 starts. He went on to play two years for the Browns and one with the Jets, but his career was cut short with leg and ankle injuries at the age of 29.

Dave Lloyd. The Eagles were Lloyd’s third team when he arrived in 1963 but he quickly found a home, spending the next eight years in Philly. He was a center/linebacker, but his best position was middle linebacker, where he made 98 starts for the Eagles, intercepting 14 passes and recovered 10 fumbles.

Runner-up:

Rich Kraynak. See above.

Others: Ray Graves, Vic Lindskog, Wayne Robinson, Roy Lee Caffey, Kevin Reilly, Matt Battaglia, Todd Bell, Jessie Small, Louis Cooper, Vaughan Johnson, Sylvester Wright, DeShawn Fogle, Jon Haskins, Jason Short, Pago Togafau, Tracy White, Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Brian Rolle, Jason Phillips, Brad Jones, Najee Goode, and Zach Brown.

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