If you are one of the nearly thousands of NFL players who have faced the Eagles since 2010—then you might remember that defensive player who mercilessly talked in your face for the whole game. More than likely, that player is Brandon Graham — who announced his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday.
Graham didn’t elude with some type of vagueness to exactly how he and the Eagles were going to overpower you on the field. He wasn’t subtle in his delivery style during the pre-game. He didn’t use telepathy to control your mind prior to the contest. Brandon Graham told you exactly how both he and his teammates in midnight green where going to crush your athletic dreams on this day. Or this night.
Brandon Graham wasn’t just the first player that Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman ever selected but was also the last player on the roster from the Andy Reid Era. Drafted out of the University of Michigan in 2010 with the 13th overall pick — the First-Team All-Big Ten and All-American played both linebacker and defensive end for the Eagles. His fifteen-year career included twenty-two forced fumbles, seventy-six and a half sacks, and over four-hundred and eighty tackles. During the championship season of 2017 — he even intercepted a pass and scored a touchdown.
In February of 2018 came perhaps his biggest moment. During the course of the last three minutes of the first Super Bowl that the Eagles had played since 2005 — Brandon Graham was able to disrupt just enough of Tom Brady’s throwing arm and the football to create one of the most memorable fumbles in franchise history. When the game was over three minutes later — it was Philadelphia who would win Super Bowl LII — by a final score of 41–33.
Right before Thanksgiving this season — when Graham stood in his locker postgame and told the media that he had torn his tricep and would be out for the year— it looked like the end of an incredible NFL career for the player known as BG. But Brandon Graham was not yet ready to call it quits.
Approximately ten weeks later when his young Eagles defense was in the Super Bowl — there was Brandon Graham — telling the Kansas City Chiefs how their chances for a dynasty were basically non-existent. At one point — Graham ran down a scrambling Mahomes and then began to explain to the All-Pro exactly how much Patrick would be seeing a lot of Graham during the course of the game. By the conclusion of the Eagles dominant defensive performance in Super Bowl LIX — Graham would tear his tricep again.
For Brandon Graham — it didn’t matter. For the second time, he was a Super Bowl Champion and for the third time, an NFC Champion. Chances are that for the rest of his life — he’ll tell us about it.
We’re counting on it.
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