1999 Philadelphia Eagles

The 1999 Philadelphia Eagles season was the franchise's 67th in the National Football League. The team finished 5–11 and last place in the NFC East. The Eagles hired Andy Reid away from the Green Bay Packers to be their new head coach prior to the start of the season. In the 1999 NFL Draft, the team drafted quarterback Donovan McNabb with the second overall pick.

NFL Draft
The 1999 NFL Draft was held April 17–18, 1999. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.

The Eagles, with a record of 3–13 in 1998, equal the record of the Cincinnati Bengals and the Indianapolis Colts and would normally have a chance at the number 1 pick in the draft but the new Cleveland Browns franchise will have it. The Eagles do win the 2nd pick in the Draft and select Donovan McNabb, a Quarterback out of University of Syracuse. The Eagles, Bengals and Colts rotated in each round, picking 2nd, 3rd, or 4th after the Browns.

Player Selections
The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.
 * A Compensation Pick is a pick awarded by the NFL to a team that loses a Free Agent the year before

Regular season
The quality of Andy Reid's work with the Packers attracted considerable notice throughout the league, leading to his being hired as the head coach of the Eagles on January 11, 1999. At the time, many in the local media in Philadelphia criticized the hiring, citing the availability of other candidates who had past records of success as head coaches. The Eagles, under former coach Ray Rhodes, finished in a three-way tie for the NFL's worst record at 3–13 the season before he took over. They improved two games in 1999 to finish at 5–11 (including the team's first road victory in 19 games, a 20–16 win over the Bears at Chicago on October 17, which was the first time the Philadelphia franchise had won an away game over the Bears since 1933).

Donovan McNabb was drafted second overall by the Eagles in the 1999 NFL Draft, a choice which was famously booed by Philadelphia fans present at the draft, most of whom were pushing for their team to draft University of Texas running back Ricky Williams. McNabb saw his first NFL regular season action in the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 19–5 home loss on September 19. He made his first career start at home against Washington on November 14, completing eight of 21 passes for 60 yards in a 35–28 win. He also had nine carries for 49 rushing yards and led the team to a pair of successful two-point conversions (1 rush and 1 pass). With the win, he became the first Eagles rookie QB to win his first NFL start since Mike Boryla (December 1, 1974 vs. Green Bay) and the first Eagle QB to win his first start since Ty Detmer (October 13, 1996 at NYG).

McNabb threw the first TD pass of his career (6 yards to tight end Chad Lewis) vs. Indianapolis in a 44–17 home loss on November 21. McNabb went on to start six of the Eagles' final seven contests (missing the December 19 home game against New England, a 24–9 victory, due to injury) as he became the first Philadelphia Eagles rookie to start in the quarterback position since Brad Goebel on October 13, 1991, and the first Eagles rookie draft pick to start since John Reaves in 1972.