Earlier this week, the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense received an unexpected boost as veteran defensive end Brandon Graham officially announced that he was coming out of retirement.
The news of Graham’s return couldn’t come at a better time for the Eagles, whose pass rushers have been extremely disappointing through the first seven games of the season. As a team, the Eagles only have 11 sacks, with Moro Ojomo, Jordan Davis, and Zack Baun racking up seven between them.
Philadelphia was hoping that Za’Darius Smith, whom they signed immediately after their Week 1 win, would play a key role in rejuvenating the pass rush. However, he surprisingly retired after Week 6, despite having 1.5 sacks in five games, which currently ranks fourth on the Eagles.
This is what leads us back to Graham’s return. When Eagles fans heard Graham was coming back, they were excited to see the beloved figure back on the field. However, it’s not far-fetched to say that the veteran’s return is an indictment of how the Eagles approached the offseason.
Brandon Graham Return Sends Message About Eagles’ Offseason Mistakes
At the start of free agency in March, the Eagles saw veteran pass rusher Josh Sweat depart the City of Brotherly Love to sign with the Arizona Cardinals on a four-year, $76.4 million deal. After Sweat’s performance in the Super Bowl, it was expected that he was going to get paid elsewhere and left the Eagles scrambling.
Fans wondered what the team would do not only to fill the void left by Sweat, but also Graham at the time. In addition to already having Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt, Philly brought in Josh Uche, Azeez Ojulari, and Ogbo Okoronkwo on one-year deals.
The hope was that one or maybe two of these guys would emerge and carve out a role for themselves in Vic Fangio’s scheme. It was a huge gamble by the Eagles’ front office, and it quickly backfired.
Between the three free-agent signings, Uche has shown the most promise, but he just recorded his first sack of the season in Week 7. Meanwhile, Ojulari was a healthy scratch through the first four games of the season, and only got on the field when Smith and Okoronkwo went down with injury.
In the three games Ojulari has played in, he has recorded one quarterback hit, no sacks, and no QB pressures, which will not be enough. And not to mention, he’s now dealing with a hamstring injury.
All in all, the Eagles did not do their best to find better solutions on the edge in the offseason, and are now trying to play catch-up in real time. The Eagles hope Graham can give them better production than what they’ve gotten out of Uche, Ojulari, and Okoronkwo, but the bar is set low.
Even if Graham can give you what he gave in 2024 (11 quarterback pressures, 3.5 sacks in 11 games), the Eagles still need more. Therefore, Howie Roseman and the rest of the front office need to work the phones to see if they could acquire a Jaelen Phillips or Arden Key to fix their offseason miscalculations.