December 27, 2025
Kirby Lee/Imagn Images
Eagles QB and Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts is the top local sports figure of 2025.
There's supposed to be no "I" in team, but Philly sports had plenty of standout individual performers in 2025 who made for some exciting moments.
In 2025, an Eagles quarterback shined under the brightest spotlight to bring the franchise its second Lombardi Trophy; a Phillies slugger enjoyed a historic season at the plate; a Flyers newcomer inspired hope and promise, setting the stage for a Sixers rookie to do the same; a new coach led his team to the top of the standings; and an older coach proved to be the missing piece of a championship.
As we near the end of 2025, let's take a look at the year's top 10 local sports figures:
Hurts completed his mission after losing the Super Bowl two years earlier, leading the Eagles to blowouts of the Commanders in the NFC Championship and the Chiefs dynasty in the Super Bowl. Hurts looked like a man who couldn't be stopped as he carved up the Chiefs, sticking the dagger into Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid with his 46-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith that hammered the nail down in Kansas City's coffin and delivered the Eagles their second Super Bowl title in a 40-22 triumph.
For Hurts, who won game MVP, it became the latest chapter in his underdog tale, but the book is still being written. He has the 10-5 Eagles back in the hunt for a high seed this postseason and has the chance to lead the Eagles to back-to-back Lombardi Trophies – the rarified air of heroes.
With his prodigious power and majestic home runs, Kyle Schwarber clubbed his way to an NL-leading 56 homers and ML-best 132 RBI, not only challenging the Phillies record for most homers in a season and helping the team win its second straight NL East title but also overtaking Bryce Harper as the most productive – and perhaps most beloved by fans – Phillies player.
All that panic about his free-agent status went away in early December, when the Phillies re-signed Schwarber to a 5-year, $150-million pact that'll keep the modern-day Paul Bunyan in South Philly around even longer.
DeJean provided the year's signature play in February with his Super Bowl pick-six on Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, a 38-yard TD return that opened the floodgates of a 40-22 dismantling of the Chiefs dynasty in Super Bowl LIX. The Chiefs still haven't recovered.
Meanwhile, DeJean, now in his second season, is a Pro Bowler for the first time and one of the most significant pieces of coordinator Vic Fangio's defense, which once again is on the rise as the Eagles are preparing for another deep playoff run. DeJean has locked down the slot position but also added outside corner to his task list. His rumored relationship with WWE star Nikki Bella makes him even more fascinating and a larger-than-life Philly sports personality.
For most teams, losing an ace and Cy Young candidate of Zack Wheeler's caliber would be catastrophic. For the Phillies, nah, they have Sánchez, the southpaw who in 2025 stepped into the ace role when Wheeler went down for the season in July and made sure the rotation didn't skip a beat.
Sánchez made his own case for Cy Young, pitching to a 2.50 ERA with a 13-9 record and 212 strikeouts in 202 innings, which earned him an NL-best 8.0 WAR. Don't blame the Phillies' postseason shortcomings on Sánchez. He allowed just three runs in 13 innings against the Dodgers, with 13 Ks. If Wheeler returns to form in 2026, no team will have a more dominant 1-2 punch in the starting rotation.
Although the 2024-25 Sixers season quickly devolved into an injury-marred, unwatchable campaign, Maxey still averaged a personal-best 26.3 points per game and did his best to lead an extremely young, inexperienced Sixers group while preparing himself and his teammates for a rebound in 2025-2026.
And that's happened very quickly. Maxey is playing like one of the NBA's top five players, pouring in nearly 32 points per night while leading the NBA in minutes played. As veterans Joel Embiid and Paul George find their footing, Maxey has stepped into the role as the face of the franchise and the catalyst to an upstart Sixers team that's not only fun to watch but also elbowing its way back to playoff contention.
No NFL wide receiver looks forward to a trip to "Quintanamo Bay," as the Eagles' second-year corner continues to stake his claim as the league's top lockdown corner. Mitchell parlayed his extremely good rookie season into an even better sophomore campaign that has already earned him a Pro Bowl nod but should also end in an All-Pro berth. He would be the first Eagles corner since Lito Sheppard did it in 2001. Look for Mitchell to rank even higher on this list in years to come.
In just a short time, the new Flyers forward has come to symbolize the page-turn of a Flyers organization that's finally taking a step forward under GM Danny Briere after a playoff drought that last year extended to five consecutive seasons. Brière's risky trade for Zegras, an electrifying scorer who battled throes of inconsistency with Anaheim, has paid off. Zegras has helped change how the Flyers play under new coach Rick Tocchet, and he leads the team in goals, assists and points. Zegras has helped make Flyers hockey fun and competitive again.
In his first season as head coach, Bradley Carnell guided the Union to the Supporters' Shield for the most points scored in the MLS and a trip to the MLS Cup Semifinals. After losing in the Eastern Conference semis in 2023 and tumbling out of playoff contention in 2024 with just nine wins, the Union believed it needed to change, parting ways with longtime coach Jim Curtin. The team hired Carnell, a South African who had previously coached St. Louis CITY SC. Without a true superstar goal-scorer, Carnell coached an extremely balanced Union team to 20 wins, tying for the most in MLS. The Union allowed the fewest goals in the MLS.
Like Zegras, Edgecombe's 2025 contributions to the local sports scene are in a small window, but the impact he's already had can't be dismissed. From his eye-popping 34-point debut in an opening night win against the Celtics to his 23-point outburst against the Knicks in his Madison Square Garden debut, Edgecombe has combined with Maxey to give the Sixers not only one of the NBA's most dynamic young backcourts but also a glimpse into the future of what could be for the Sixers over the next decade. The future looks very bright.
We can't, and won't, ignore the historic resume of Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, but in 2025, there's no question the most important Eagles coach was their defensive coordinator, whose No. 1-ranked defense opened the year by holding the Packers to 10 points in the NFC Wild Card game, then swarmed and suffocated Matthew Stafford in the fourth quarter of an NFC Divisional game to keep the Rams from pulling off an upset. Fangio's defense then churned out four takeaways in the Eagles' blowout of the Commanders in the NFC Championship before smothering Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl without even blitzing once. As the year comes to a close, Fangio's defense is once again rounding into form after losing half of its starters in the offseason and dealing with several injuries. Fangio is a mastermind, and with all due respect to Sirianni, this year Fangio is the team's most significant coach.
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