USATSI
PHILADELPHIA — The real-life Rocky Balboa played in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform for 15 years.
Brandon Graham was doubted. He was known for being the player the Eagles didn’t take over the ones they should have. He wasn’t Earl Thomas or Jason Pierre-Paul, the two players selected after him that had immediate success in the league.
Instead, Graham was a player not living up to expectations. He was underperforming, often injured, and couldn’t get an opportunity to prove himself on the field. The 2010 first-round draft pick was lost, confused, and simply failed to earn playing time to be a consistent regular.
The bust label was already written for Graham, who had just 8.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in three seasons. His performance was simply not good enough for a player selected in the first round.
Most teams would have moved on. Not the Eagles, who gave a player most teams would have moved on from another chance to succeed.
Like Rocky, Graham didn’t deserve that chance. It took one coach to make sure he kept having one — Andy Reid.
“You were the first to bring me here,” an emotional Graham said in his retirement speech. “The first to look me in my eye and tell me I belong. That moment changed everything for me. I will always be grateful for that.”
Even though the Eagles moved on from Reid, the belief was still there Graham could make it in the NFL. He even underwent a position change to linebacker in a defense that didn’t fit his game to stick around, playing out of position but doing everything he was asked to do just to remain in Philadelphia.
Brandon Graham retires: Here’s what sealed his decision to walk away after 15 seasons with Eagles
That journey wasn’t easy. Graham almost moved on and left Philadelphia behind and signed with the New York Giants after five rough years in an Eagles uniform, but had enough faith to return — having a breakthrough season even though he was playing out of position.
Graham’s NFL career changed when he was moved back to defensive end under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, a journey towards becoming the Eagles legend few saw in him.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Graham said. “For me, if you get another opportunity, whatever that opportunity is, run with it. Don’t look down on just because it might not be the opportunity or everything you dreamed about in your mind, but when you think about it, nine times out of 10 when you worry yourself about what you think is supposed to happen, it doesn’t normally happen the way it’s supposed to happen.
“For me it was the opportunity I got when I got here, then I got another opportunity when Doug [Eagles head coach Doug Pederson] came. That changed my whole career. He brought Schwartz in and I have to give a shout out to Schwartz. He kept me on point. I felt I could play my game again when Schwartz came.”
Graham didn’t just become a good pass rusher, he became one of the most consistent pass rushers in the NFL. He had 53 sacks and 110 quarterback hits in 126 games, earning a second team All-Pro selection (2016) and Pro Bowl berth (2020) during that span. Graham also hit double-digit sacks at 34 years old for the first time in his career, the only player 34-or-older this decade to have double-digit sacks.
Oh, and Graham played the most seasons (15) and regular season games (206) in an Eagles uniform — which seemed impossible watching the same player struggle to get on the field in the early 2010s.
He wasn’t a star by any means, consistently an underdog amongst the elite pass rushers in the game. The lights shined brightest when the Eagles needed Graham, who had his franchise-changing moment in Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots.
Responsible for arguably the greatest play in Eagles history, Graham strip-sacked Tom Brady with under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter with the Eagles holding a 38-33 lead. Graham forced the strip-sack on Brady and Derek Barnett recovered the fumble, setting up a Jake Elliott field goal with 1:05 remaining to put the Eagles up 41-33.
The Eagles won their first Super Bowl title and ended a 57-year championship drought, as Graham forced the lone turnover of the game for Philadelphia in the win. That moment is how this city will forever remember Graham, ending a drought for this franchise that spawned up to four generations.
“I was just happy to be able to get him,” Graham said of the play. “It didn’t matter who made the play, like Fletch [former Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox] said, ‘It don’t matter who made the play. Just make the play, so we can all (phew), we good.’
“I was just so happy to be there. But it was all of us – the person who took away his first read, that’s the guy I need to thank because all that stuff worked together. It was a big moment in my career. That’s where I felt like things started to get even better, from that point on.
“But it took me, what, seven years to get there, to that point?”
Graham could do no wrong in this city once the Brady play happened and the Eagles hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the first time. He went from zero to hero, the real life embodiment of Rocky this city wants from its athletes.
It doesn’t matter how hard you’re hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Graham embodied that in Philadelphia, and walked away a champion.
“I can tell any kid, any adversity you go through, don’t run. Just face it,” Graham said. “And just know it’s going to be better, and you’re going to be better for it.”
