For the first decade of their existence, the Eagles were an awful team. They never had a winning record, three times they won just one game in a season. From 1933, their first year of existence, to 1936, they went 10-32-1, the worst in the league of the teams that played all four seasons in that time span. But in 1937 they bought themselves some relevance when owner and future commissioner Bert Bell purchased Bill Hewitt from the Bears.
In an era of two-way players, Hewitt was outstanding at both. Football was a very different game in the 1930s, with teams rarely passing the ball, and when they did a variety of players on the same team threw the ball.