"I think defensive end has been one of the stronger positions for this team over time, going back to the 1950s. You can start with Norm Willey and work your way up. The Eagles have had a lot of the best defensive ends and a lot of the best pass rushers.

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"Norm is known for his 17-sack game – which I will get to in a moment – but he should be known for being a tremendous player. They didn't record sacks in those days as an official stat, but from what I know about Norm and from researching his play, he probably would have had 20 sacks per season for a lot of years. Norm was drafted as a fullback out of Marshall, but the Eagles were loaded in the offensive backfield. The head coach, Greasy Neale, liked Willey and put him on defense to see what he could do. So the story goes, in the first five plays in practice at defensive end, Willey came across the line and knocked quarterback Tommy Thompson on his butt and finally Thompson stood up, pointed at Willey and said, 'Somebody block that wild man!' From that point forward, he was known as 'Wildman' Willey.

"As for that 17-sack game, I believe it. I looked this up when I wrote The Eagles Encyclopedia, the story in The Philadelphia Bulletin, and I think I am quoting almost verbatim, said that Willey 'awed the Polo Grounds inhabitants by tackling Charlie Conerly 17 times when he was attempting to pass.' That was from the paper of record of the day, so this isn't hearsay and this isn't urban myth, I don't believe.

"I remember interviewing (former NFL great) Doak Walker at the Hall of Fame one day and I mentioned Willey's name and Doak said he was a great player and that he should be in the Hall of Fame. He was exceptional according to the players of that era.

"Dennis Harrison was unusual because of his size. He was 6 feet 8 and his nickname was 'Bigfoot.' He was a good player. I remember the feeling a lot of us had was that he would be better than he was. I felt he would be a dominating player. He was a good player, but not one that dominated. He had so much size and strength and the expectations were very high for him. Dennis was a good, solid player. He wasn't a tremendous pass rusher, but he did a lot of things very well.

"Carl Hairston was very good. He was the defensive captain from 1979-83 and he only missed one game in eight years. He led the NFC in 1979 with 15 sacks, so he was a very accomplished player. He was a lightly-regarded player coming out of Maryland Eastern-Shore, and had worked as a truck driver before he went to college, so teams were reluctant to draft him because of his age. Dick Vermeil had no reservations, because he didn't have a lot of draft picks.

"Carl was an emotional leader and was very much respected. He was also productive, registering more than 100 tackles for five straight seasons. That's a pretty good feat.

"Greg Brown never really jumped out at me, but then you looked down and saw how many sacks he had and how productive he was. Greg was a quiet player who went out and got the job done for the Eagles.

"Clyde Simmons is one of those players who was debated about for a long time. Was he a product of the system, or of the great players around him? No doubt playing with Reggie White and Jerome Brown helped, but Clyde was a special player. I think Clyde would have been a standout defensive end playing for any team.

"He had 76 sacks here and he had 19 in 1992, two off of Reggie's record. The thing that amazed me about Clyde was that for a big guy who moved along in a somewhat ungainly manner, he was really very nimble. Buddy Ryan would sometimes drop him into pass coverage and Clyde would cover a receiver in the flat. He was athletic enough to have that kind of versatility. Clyde played intelligently and he played hard.

"William Fuller was such a professional. He signed a three-year contract as a free agent after a time in the USFL and some seasons with the Houston Oilers and there were some who questioned whether he was worth $8 million over the course of his three seasons. Fuller made the Pro Bowl three straight seasons and proved to be a bargain. William did so many things – he played hard, he was outstanding against the run and I thought he just had a complete game.

"He was a positive influence in the locker room and he led by example with his work ethic. He and Hugh Douglas were similar in a lot of ways. The feeling about Hugh was that he would only be a pass-rushing specialist, but he demonstrated that he was much more than that. He was an every-down defensive end who was productive in a 3-4 with the Jets and who was outstanding in a 4-3 with the Eagles. Hugh was so consistent and he played so well in big games. He had a sense of making the big play.

"When the Eagles beat Tampa Bay in 2000 for their first playoff win of the Andy Reid era, Hugh was the one who made the big play. The Eagles had trouble generating offense and Hugh stepped up, sacked quarterback Shaun King from the blind side and forced a fumble and the Eagles scored on the next play. Hugh's play turned the game around.

"Reggie will win this vote by a landslide, as he should. He was the best defensive end I ever saw. Gino Marchetti was before my time, Deacon Jones was sort of before my time – I didn't see him enough to really judge – but of the guys I actually saw, Reggie was the very best. Nobody was as fast and as strong as Reggie. He could pick up 300-pound offensive tackles and throw them around like sacks of laundry. He was clearly the best defensive end the Eagles have ever had.

"In this voting, Reggie is a given. The second defensive end is very difficult. Willey would probably be my second pick, although it would be between Willey and Clyde. I think those who vote for Fuller and Hugh have legitimate arguments, too. It's a tough, tough call."