Philadelphia Eagles: Brandon Graham is the team’s best trade asset

Brandon Graham is the Philadelphia Eagles most valuable trade piece.

*DISCLAIMER* This is in no way shape or form me saying that I particularly want to see Brandon Graham traded, this is simply me evaluating the Philadelphia Eagles current roster shape-up and acknowledging who would be most valuable in a hypothetical trade. So don’t go calling me a “BG hater”, y’all.

Sat at 1-4-1 but just a half game out of first place in the NFC East, nobody is really quite sure what the Philadelphia Eagles plan is heading into this year’s trade deadline. Howie Roseman has been known to exclusively “buy” at past deadlines, and Jason La Confora of CBS Sports reported that Roseman planned to embody a similar strategy here in 2020.

Adam Schefter on the other hand (who is pretty darn reliable may I add), reported the opposite. He said that Roseman and the Eagles were very much considering “selling” at this year’s deadline.

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Even with another division title in reach, the latter report seems far more logical from the outside looking in. The Philadelphia Eagles are a really bad team, and they have some really bad contracts on the books. For what it’s worth, the Eagles could totally dump some of their starters and still probably win the miserable NFC East. That reality could be another factor pushing Roseman towards offloading money in a few weeks, as opposed to taking it on.

The big problem that arises when it comes to the Eagles hypothetically “selling” at this year’s deadline goes as following: all the players that people want to see traded away literally have zero value.

Roseman has been trying to trade Alshon Jeffery for months to no avail, DeSean Jackson still can’t stay healthy, Zach Ertz just picked up his own respective injury, and the team really can’t afford to part with any of their aging offensive linemen.

Of all the “tradable” veterans on the roster, Brandon Graham is really the only one who would be worth shopping.

Graham is having one of the best years of his career, as he’s already recorded 5.0 sacks, 8 TFLs, and 9 QB hits. He’s fourth in the NFL in total sacks, and he’s the only player in the league to have recorded 5.0+ sacks and 8.0 TFLs. At the ripe age of 32, BG is playing some seriously elite football.

NFL teams are always hunting for pass rushers, and Graham would instantly elevate a team like Seattle or Baltimore to that of a Super Bowl favorite.

From the Eagles perspective, Graham is on the hook for $17.9 million in 2021. As much as he is an Eagles legend, and as well as he is currently playing right now, there’s just no way to justify paying him that much money next year. You could always bank on a restructure of sorts, but there’s genuinely only so many times Roseman can kick that can down the road. Other, more financially flexible, teams have the ability to work out of such a lofty cap hit upon acquiring BG. The Eagles realistically do not.

On top of the heavy cap hit, the Philadelphia Eagles have to start deciding who their defensive ends of the future are. Both Josh Sweat and Derek Barnett have looked promising this season, and you can’t start both of them while BG is still in the building.

Nobody likes to hear this hypothetical due to BG being an all-time favorite amongst the Eagles fanbase, but at 1-4-1, we’re at that stage in the season. As much as I wish the team could just dump Alshon and DJax and be done with it, that’s just not realistic. If Roseman really wants to land a premium pick at this year’s deadline, moving Graham would be the best way to do so.