[16] He attended Mount Carmel High School, where as a sophomore, he was a teammate of future NFL players Simeon Rice and Matt Cushing.

[23] As a freshman, he completed the longest touchdown pass in Syracuse's history—a 96-yard throw against West Virginia University—in a game where he accounted for 354 total yards of offense;[24] he was named the Big East Conference's rookie of the year at the end of the season.

[26] As a senior, he led Syracuse to a berth in the Orange Bowl against Florida, as he completed 157 of 251 passes (62.5%) for 2,134 yards; he also pushed the eventual champions, the Tennessee Volunteers, to the limit in a very close game.

[36] A group of Eagles fans known as the "Dirty 30" were sent to the draft by sports radio host Angelo Cataldi and Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell.

[42] McNabb threw the first touchdown pass of his career (six yards to tight end Chad Lewis) against the Indianapolis Colts in a 44–17 home loss on November 21, 1999.

[43] McNabb went on to start six of the Eagles' final seven contests (missing the December 19 home game against the New England Patriots, a 24–9 victory, due to injury).

[48] McNabb's 55 pass attempts at Pittsburgh in a come-from-behind 26–23 overtime victory on November 12 were then a career high and tied for the fourth-highest total in team history.

[52][53] He threw a career-high 390 passing yards and four touchdowns in a 35–24 victory at the Cleveland Browns on December 10 en route to his second NFC Offensive Player of the Week award.

[citation needed] In 2001, McNabb led the Eagles to an 11–5 season and fourth-quarter comebacks in two wins against the defending NFC champion New York Giants.

[68] He also wiped out a 21–14 deficit on December 30, engineering two fourth-quarter scores as the Eagles clinched their first NFC East title in thirteen years with a 24–21 win.

[73] McNabb earned his second trip to the Pro Bowl (was originally elected as an alternate) following the 2001 season after combining for 3,715 yards of total offense and establishing career highs in touchdown passes (25) and quarterback rating (84.3).

McNabb again led his team to the NFC Championship, highlighted by the Eagles' comeback overtime win against the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round.

[94] McNabb became the first quarterback to rush for more than 100 yards in a postseason game, surpassing the previous NFL record which Otto Graham held for over 50 years.

This prompted some observers to conclude that McNabb simply "choked" in big games,[102] while other information suggested the reality was more complicated: in 2001, McNabb was in his second full season as a starter, the Eagles were not expected to appear in the NFC Championship game, and his performance in the Eagles’ loss to the heavily favored Rams was not considered choking; in 2002, the Buccaneers' Tampa 2 pass defense included four eventual Hall of Famers[103] and McNabb's 58.5 passer rating – though poor – was the highest against the Buccaneers in the 2002 playoffs including Super Bowl XXXVII[104] (also worth noting: in the 1999 NFC Championship, league MVP Kurt Warner’s 56.2 passer rating against the Buccaneers was lower than McNabb's in 2002, and the Rams’ top-ranked offense scored less points than the Eagles' offense did in 2002 - possibly avoiding the choking status because the Rams won, sustained by strong defense that held the Buccaneers to six points[105]); in 2003, a second-quarter separated rib cartilage injury affected McNabb's ability to throw until he was pulled from the game, and the team's second-leading receiver and rusher Brian Westbrook missed the game due to a triceps injury;[106] in all three NFC championship games, the Eagles’ only Pro Bowl-level receiving target was tight end Chad Lewis, and their starting wide receiver corps was arguably among the league's least productive over that period.

[111][112][113][114] This dramatic improvement coincided with a massive upgrading of the Eagles' receiving corps, namely the arrival of Terrell Owens, who caught 77 passes for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns in only 14 games.

[121] In the playoffs, McNabb led the Eagles to their second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history, with victories over the Minnesota Vikings 27–14 in the Divisional Round and Atlanta Falcons 27–10 in the NFC Championship.

Some controversy followed the game, with rumors circulating that McNabb became ill and threw up in the huddle during the Eagles' last touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.

McNabb carried that momentum into October as he went 33-for-48 (68.8% completions), and threw 369 yards and three touchdowns en route to leading the Eagles to a memorable come-from-behind victory at an unfriendly Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs 37–31.

[14] In the Wild Card Round, McNabb threw 300 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown to Brian Westbrook, to lead Philadelphia to a 26–14 upset win on the road over the Minnesota Vikings.

[175] McNabb also encouraged the Eagles to sign quarterback Michael Vick to the team as a backup upon his release from prison for his part in a criminal dog fighting operation.

[186] NFL.com noted in the offseason that McNabb finished the 2000s as one of the decade's top quarterbacks in several offensive categories even though the Eagles' most productive receiving target - by a “stunning” margin - was a running back (Brian Westbrook), followed next by two tight ends (L.J.

[188] In the press conference following the Eagles' loss to Dallas, and even up to April 1, Andy Reid stated that McNabb would remain the starting quarterback in Philadelphia for the 2010 season.

[195] In week 5, McNabb struggled for the first three quarters, but rallied the Redskins to a 16–13 overtime victory against the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers at FedExField.

[199] On December 17, 2010, head coach Mike Shanahan relegated McNabb to the third quarterback position for the rest of this season, stating that he wanted to evaluate backup Rex Grossman in game play.

[204] McNabb was rumored to be a possible addition to the Vikings for the past three years, in part due to his relationship with then-coach Brad Childress, the former Eagles offensive coordinator.

[208] Potential destinations for McNabb included the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and his hometown Chicago Bears, all three of which lost their starting quarterbacks for the season to injury, but were still making playoff pushes.

[210] The Bears subsequently signed Josh McCown, who had been unsigned since September but had familiarity with the Mike Martz offensive system run in Chicago.

[279][280] In 2009, McNabb donated $2.5 million to help fund the construction of a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the Virtua Vorhees Hospital in Vorhersage, NJ where the family's four children were born.

[282] In 2021, McNabb co-founded The QB Legacy (QBL), a nonprofit group to provide mentoring and coaching to young quarterbacks (middle school through college) in underserved communities.

In addition to quarterback skills, QBL camps educate young athletes about leadership, emotional and spiritual resilience, collegiate eligibility and recruiting, and financial literacy.