Eagles’ Brandon Graham Defies Odds: Veteran Pass-Rusher on a Mission to Achieve the Impossible in…
As the week continues, it’s getting harder and harder for Brandon Graham to contain his excitement. He wants to return to the field. He hasn’t played since late November, but there’s another component to this. He’s still on the Philadelphia Eagles’ injured reserve.
Wednesday came and went. He alluded to a few notable talking points, and he wasn’t just discussing Super Bowl LIX and the Kansas City Chiefs. He mentioned his future with the Eagles and his plans after the game.
It’s no secret that everyone on the Eagles roster and coaching staff loves the guy. So does every member of the brass.
One Eagles player told me informally at Philadelphia’s media availability on Wednesday that “There’s no one who deserves (to win in this game) more than him.” It’s B.G.’s leadership style that makes him so special. Seeing him on the field would give all of his teammates a boost.
There’s more to the story though.
Brandon Graham has good and bad news about his status for Super Bowl Sunday.
Time has been ticking for Brandon Graham. His career nears its end, but he’s continued to defy the odds as Father Time continues to stalk him. When speaking to the media on Wednesday, he detailed the importance of passing the torch to younger guys on the team with it being his “last season.”
That’s the bad news, but it isn’t news that we weren’t aware of. The good news? The 15-year veteran remains on track to return after a three-month-long absence as he recovered from a torn triceps.
“I’m just happy that I’m able to play in this last one,” Graham said when asked about the emotions that run through his mind when processing that this will be his final Eagles game.
It was widely expected for him to return from the triceps injury for the Super Bowl in an unprecedented recovery, but again — like he has over the past few days — Graham continues to allude to the fact that he’ll be back out there.
For the Eagles’ defense, it serves as a key addition and a veteran presence who has experience in games like Sunday’s. “He brings a big impact,” Eagles linebacker Zack Baun told Inside the Iggles, “He’s such a big part of the leadership on this team and on this defense.”
“B.G. is basically the leader of this team and he’s been the leader of the city, honestly,” cornerback Darius Slay told Inside the Iggles, “We needed his energy and his physicality out there, he’s a dominant force.”
Eagles players emphasize Graham’s importance to the team
The face of every Eagles player lights up when Brandon Graham is brought up. Every… Single… One…
“He’s the heartbeat of this team,” safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson said when asked about Graham, “He should have a statue outside of the stadium pretty soon.”
As CJGJ emphasized, the greatness of the 15-year veteran is set to live on forever in the hearts of the Eagles fanbase and organization. Graham has 76.5 career sacks and his greatest moment — a Super Bowl strip sack on legend Tom Brady, perhaps the most famous forced fumble in the game’s history.
When Graham went down in late November, the team lost its heartbeat but rallied together for their guy to give him a chance at returning. It took the life out of the team at that moment, as tight end Dallas Goedert described.
“Everyone’s got so much love and respect for that guy that you hate to see it happen that way, Goedert said.”
But throughout the recovery process, Graham affirmed to the team that if they made it back to the Super Bowl, he would be there waiting for them and ready to go to war with them. “He said, ‘if we get back, I will be ready, I will be ready, I will be ready’, so we come to this time and he’s ready,” Goedert described.
The Eagles are back and Graham is ready — ready to leave his lasting impact on the Philadelphia Eagles for one last game. He’s ready to ride off into the sunset and the Eagles are ready to send him off the right way.
