The Philadelphia Eagles' culture has claimed another who just can't give up the Birds. Brandon Graham, who was previously retired following a Super Bowl LIX victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, is returning to Philly in the wake of Za'Darius Smith's sudden retirement.
And he may get snaps against the New York Giants at the Linc this Sunday. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni believes that Graham remaining the same top edge rusher he was a season ago is a possibility. If that bears out in practice, Graham could return against the Giants.
"We’ll see how practice goes but have confidence in who BG is as a player, as a person. We’ll see where he is by the end of this week and see what we got. But I got confidence in him because he’s been doing it for so long and has recently done it. It wasn’t a couple years ago, right? It was just last year where he played at a very high level," Sirianni said.
Brandon Graham Reveals Heart Wasn't in Retirement
Graham admitted he fell for the idea of going out on top with a title and having that "storybook ending." Somewhere along the way, though, he conceded that he didn't care about that. Graham showed a genuine care for the health of the only NFL employer he ever knew.
“It felt so right at the time. It did,” Graham said on his podcast. “It felt too good to pass up. But I was still like, ‘Hey, I don’t care about all that.’ It was like I don’t want to mess up this storybook ending. But then reality set in.”
Graham has stuck it out through the Howie Roseman era. He was in Philadelphia for the end of Andy Reid's tenure, and played for four head coaches, one interim, since. The way he loves the Eagles is akin to a player at his alma mater.
That energy has been shared by Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and countless others. Saquon Barkley is certainly happy to be with this franchise over the other NFC East organization he was drafted by and spent six years with.
Sirianni, and more specifically, Vic Fangio and Clint Hurtt, will be the beneficiaries of that love. We'll see how soon they'll have their immediate Smith replacement and instant culture-shifter on Philadelphia's depth chart.