Philadelphia-El Rocky Balboa of real life played in a uniform of Filadelfia Eagles for 15 years.
Brandon Graham was doubted. He was known for being the player that the Eagles did not take care of what they should have. It was not Earl Thomas or Jason Pierre-Paul, the two players selected after him that they had an immediate success in the league.
Instead, Graham was a player who was not up to expectations. He had a lower performance, often injured, and could not have the opportunity to demonstrate his value in the field. The first round of 2010 was lost, confused and simply could not gain play time to be a constant regular.
The bust label was already written for Graham, which had only 8.5 captures and four loose balls forced 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 of the teams would have gone from another opportunity to succeed.
Like Rocky, Graham did not deserve that opportunity. A coach was needed to make sure he continued to have one: Andy Reid.
“You were the first to bring me here,” said an emotional Graham in his retirement speech. “The first to look at my eye and tell me that I belong. That moment everything changed for me. I will always be grateful for that.”
Although the Eagles moved to Reid, the belief was still there that Graham could reach the NFL. He even submitted to a change of position to the supporter in a defense that did not fit in his game to stay, playing out of position, but doing everything that was asked to do to remain in Philadelphia.
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That trip was not easy. Graham almost moved and left Philadelphia and signed with New York giants after five difficult years with an Eagles uniform, but he had enough faith to return, having an innovative season even though he was playing out of position.
Graham’s NFL race changed when he was transferred back to the defensive wing under the defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, a trip to become the legend of the Eagles that few saw in him.
“It’s not like you start, it’s how you finish,” said Graham. “For me, if you have another chance, whatever that opportunity, run with it. We do not despise us just because it might not be the opportunity or everything you dreamed in your mind, but when you think about it, nine out of 10 times when you care about what you think it is supposed to happen, it usually does not happen as it is supposed to happen.
“For me it was the opportunity I had when I got here, then I had another opportunity when Doug [Eagles head coach Doug Pederson] came. That changed all my career. He brought Schwartz and I have to shout Schwartz. He kept me at the point. I felt that I could play my game again when Schwartz came. “
Graham not only became a good passes corridor, became one of the most consistent passes runners in the NFL. He had 53 catches and 110 field seafood strokes in 126 games, winning a selection All-Pro Selection (2016) and Pro Bowl of Second Team (2020) during that period. Graham also reached two -digit captures at 34 for the first time in his career, the only 34 or old player is decade to have two -digit catches.
Ah, and Graham played most seasons (15) and regular seasonal games (206) with an Eagles uniform, which seemed impossible to see the same player fight to reach the field in early 2010.
It was not a star in any way, constantly a helpless among elite pass corridors in the game. The lights shone more when the Eagles needed Graham, who had its time that changed the franchise in the Super Bowl Lii against New England patriots.
Possibly responsible for the best play in the history of Eagles, Graham Strip, Tom Brady, with less than two minutes to play in the last quarter with the Eagles with an advantage of 38-33. Graham forced Strip’s sack in Brady and Derek Barnett recovered the loose ball, establishing a Jake Elliott field goal with remaining 1:05 to put the Eagles 41-33.
The Eagles won their first Super Bowl title and finished a 57 -year -old championship drought, since Graham forced the only turnover of the game for philadelphia in victory. That moment is how this city will remember Graham forever, ending a drought for this franchise that generated up to four generations.
“I was happy to get it,” Graham said about the work. “It didn’t matter who did the work, like Fletch [former Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox] He said: ‘It doesn’t matter who did the work. Just do the work, so that we can (UF), we are fine.
“I was so happy to be there. But we were all, the person who took away his first reading, that is the guy I need to thank because all those things worked together. It was a great moment in my career. That’s where I felt that things began to improve even more, from that moment.
“But did it take me, what, seven years get there, to that point?”
Graham could not do anything wrong in this city once Brady’s work and the Eagles raised the Vince Lombardi trophy for the first time. He passed from zero to hero, the incarnation of Rocky’s real life that this city wants from its athletes.
It doesn’t matter how much you hit, but how hard you can be beaten and keep moving forward. Graham embodied that in Philadelphia, and moved away a champion.
“I can tell any child, any adversity through which you pass, don’t run. Just cool it,” Graham said. “And I know it will be better, and you will be better for that.”
