Eagles Star Was Special On and Off The Field: 'Every Workplace Needs A Brandon Graham'

PHILADELPHIA - “Everybody in every workplace needs a Brandon Graham.”

Those were the words of Eagles coach Nick Sirianni in November of last year after Graham tore his triceps during a Nov. 24 win at the Los Angeles Rams.

For the first time since Graham arrived as the 13th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft out of Michigan, the Eagles will need a new tone-setter after B.G. officially put the punctuation on a brilliant 15-year career Tuesday, one that had been presumably cut short after 217 career games, already the most in franchise history.

Everybody else in that workplace Sirianni described had other ideas and a talented Philadelphia team kept playing by winning, topping Green Bay on Wild Card Weekend, surviving the Rams again in a snowy divisional round before reminding the upstart Washington Commanders that there are steps to being a real contender in the NFC Championship Game.

The Eagles were back in the big game and Graham planned on being there, a scant 11 weeks off his original injury.

And BG indeed made it back for No. 218, playing 13 snaps in Philadelphia’s emphatic 40-22 Super Bowl LIX win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The result was the balance of two Lombardi Trophies bookending Graham at his retirement press conference at the NovaCare Complex.

Graham knew the risks of returning so soon and again tore the triceps, a tradeoff for making his last NFL game count.

Not everyone in any workplace would have made the same decision.

And that’s what set Graham apart. 

Somehow the 2020 No. 13 overall pick navigated the most difficult terrain in sports by overcoming an early narrative of draft bust to becoming the heart and soul of the most successful run of football in the 90-year history of the franchise.

His infectious energy and positive approach was the secret sauce to his impact on and off the field.

“You gotta be consistent. I'm sure what you do you gotta stay consistent and consistency is everything,” Graham explained to Philadelphia Eagles On SI. “It don't matter, you ain't gonna please everybody but I'm gonna stay consistent on my energy I bring. I'm gonna speak to you even if you don't want to speak to me. 

“Whatever it is. There is so much that goes into that. I don't want to fall into somebody I'm not.”

For Graham, accountability was everything.

“Even when I gotta talk to y'all after a loss. I know it's coming but I gotta stand tall through it,” he said. “I can't just be a high guy and not be here for the lows too. So I think that consistency of fighting through the easy wrong thing to do and go for the hard right thing to do.”

The hard right thing to do for Graham was to retire but not before passing the baton to the Eagles’ young pass-rushing duo of Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt.

Every workplace needs a Brandon Graham.