Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham’s rollercoaster Sunday night ended with the 15-year veteran contemplating football mortality with a triceps injury he expects to end his 2024 season.
Graham, who previously said this would be his final year in the league, moved into third place on the Eagles’ all-time sacks list with a second-quarter takedown of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford but left the game injured in the second half.
“I trust God, so I’m just enjoying myself,” Graham said. “I’m about to enjoy this little rehab and I’m about to enjoy leading this team the rest of the year. As soon as I can be out there I’m going to be out there.
“Man, boy, man, boy, I was having fun out there. And we’re still gonna have fun. But I’m out for the year.”
Graham posted career sack No. 76.5 to move ahead of Clyde Simmons behind only Trent Cole and Reggie White on the Eagles’ all-time sacks list. The 36-year-old is 9.0 sacks from tying Cole (85.5) and has played every game of his career — a franchise-record 206 — with the Eagles since being drafted in 2010.
Graham will be placed on injured reserve but said his daily duty to the Eagles as a captain and voice in the defensive line meeting room will not change. As for where he goes from here, he wasn’t ready to say Sunday night. But Graham did appear to prop the door open for a 16th NFL season.
“I was feeling good,” Graham said. “I hated it to go like this, but at the end of the day I don’t have any regrets. I put it all in today like I do every week. We’ll go from here. I’m hoping we’re holding that trophy regardless.
“I don’t wanna go out like this but if it’s pointing toward that, we’ll see. I don’t know what the team will be feeling at that time, but for me, I don’t wanna go out like this. I definitely want to be able to finish a full season before I’m done, but if that ain’t in the cards, I’m content where I’m at, too.”
The fourth defensive lineman drafted in 2010 behind Ndamukong Suh (Lions), Gerald McCoy (Buccaneers) and Tyson Alualu (Jaguars), Graham was the 13th overall selection in the draft. He turns 37 in April but isn’t the oldest active defensive lineman in the NFL this season. Dolphins defensive end Calais Campbell turned 38 in September.
Graham had 3.5 sacks in 2024 after posting 3.0 in 17 games last season. He had double-digit sacks only once (11 in 2022) but authored one of the most significant defensive plays in franchise history with a strip-sack of Tom Brady in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII victory.
–Field Level Media