The Bloodline That Spans The Eagles-Giants Rivalry

PHILADELPHIA – Jon Runyan has accomplished a lot in life.

The famed Michigan Man was one of the NFL’s best right tackles over a 14-year career with nine of those coming in Philadelphia with the Eagles where the big man was good enough to make the Eagles’ 75th Anniversary Team and the franchise’s Hall of Fame.

Once football was over for Runyan somehow his accomplishments got even more impressive when he defeated one-term incumbent John Adler to represent New Jersey’s third congressional district making Runyan just the fourth former NFL player to be elected to Congress, after Jack Kemp, Steve Largent, and Heath Shuler.

Runyan was re-elected once before tapping out of politics when he became disgruntled with his fellow Republicans over a government shutdown in 2014.

By 2016 Runyan was back in the NFL with the league hiring him as their Vice President of the Policy and Rules administration, a position some view as ironic considering his well-earned reputation as a player of being tough and downright nasty at times.

The second generation of the Runyan Family Bloodline entered the NFL in 2020 when Jon Jr., who followed in his dad’s footsteps at Michigan was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round of the 2020 draft. Jon Jr. played four seasons in Titletown before earning a three-year, $30 million deal in free agency with the New York Giants this offseason.

Runyan Jr. is expected to start at left guard against his father’s old team on Sunday at MetLife Stadium when the 2-4 Giants host the 3-2 Eagles.

“He’s excited,” Runyan Jr. said of his father this week. “He won’t be at the game. He’s got to work this Sunday [with the league] just like most Sundays, but I’ve got a lot of family and friends coming up from the [South Jersey] area. They’re all going to be in Giants gear, or else they’re not allowed to be around us, but everybody’s excited.”

At one time that would have been sacrilegious for Runyan Jr., who grew up loving the game of football when his dad was starring for the Eagles.

“I think one of my favorite [games] was the Eagles-Cowboys game. The Eagles won; I think it was like 44-6,” Runyan Jr. reminisced. “I think it was (former Eagles defensive back) Lito Shepard or (former Eagles defensive back) Sheldon Brown had a 95-yard pick-six for a touchdown, and I think that might have sent them to the playoffs.

“Either that or the Fred X [Mitchell], the Eagles-Packers game. I think that was a wild card game. Fourth-and-26, that was another one that I remember.

“I was at both of them, and it was a really cool moment being able to share those with my dad when I was a kid and being able to be around that locker room, being in a locker room post-game and being around those guys was really memorable for me.”

Times have changed for Runyan Jr. and his loyalties have shifted 90 miles north.

“This is a big one,” Runyan Jr. said. “Obviously, when I was a little kid, I grew up as a huge Eagles fan, but work took me elsewhere, and now I’m the biggest Giants fan in the world, so I’m excited for this weekend coming up.”

MORE NFL: Eagles’ Star Misses Practice With Shoulder Injury