Latest news with #BrandonGraham
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Eagles Looking For New Ways To Address Edge Rusher Needs
Eagles Looking For New Ways To Address Edge Rusher Needs originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Few teams have lost more to a position group this offseason than the Philadelphia Eagles along their defensive line. Advertisement Stars like edge rushers Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham as well as defensive tackle Milton Williams have all moved on from the team after their dazzling appearance in Super Bowl LIX. Following the trade of Bryce Huff, the Eagles have a clear need along the edge of their defensive line. And while the organization has never been shy of thinking outside the box for solutions, they may have one specific plan in mind. When the Eagles picked linebacker Jihaad Campbell with the 31st pick in April's NFL Draft, the team seemed to open up to the possibility of a freak athlete like the Alabama star becoming an edge rusher. 'We've seen what [defensive coordinator Vic Fangio] can do with guys with this skill set,' GM Howie Roseman said. 'I don't want to put this player in that box [of stacked LB or edge rusher]. That's what I'm saying. This guy can grow into anything that you want. Advertisement 'You see it, what's going on in the league, and Zack Baun is a great example. These guys, they can rush from the edge, they can play in space. They can affect the quarterback from depth, from the edge, and that's what we're looking for.' If Campbell can become a similar player like Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons, it could change the very fabric of Philadelphia's defense. That's a big ask. But it's part of the plan. And if it works? It can keep the Eagles defense among the elite units in the league for a long time. Related: Eagles Have Firepower to Repeat But One Major Concern Could Derail It All Related: Jordan Mailata Ranked NFL's Best Tackle as Eagles' Dominance Reaches New Peak This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 3, 2025, where it first appeared.
USA Today
a day ago
- General
- USA Today
Nolan Smith explains how Brandon Graham won him over with some early leadership
Nolan Smith explains how Brandon Graham won him over with some early leadership Brandon Graham won Nolan Smith with some early advice, and the young Eagles star has hung onto that advice ever since. Sometimes, we all can benefit from someone we look up to putting their arm around us. If you disagree, don't worry. You'll learn that lesson at some point, and all of this will make more sense to you when it does. Lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan Kobe Bryant taught us that we all can benefit from adopting some 'Mamba Mentality'. A franchise legend, Brandon Graham, taught us another lesson. Flashing a smile or picking someone else up can be just as infectious. No one has ever spent all of their time around the man affectionately referred to as B.G. by the local media, teammates, and the NFL's most loyal fan base, so as years have gone by, we've paid attention to people who have been around him at various stages of his journey. The idea was to gather a more well-rounded picture by doing so. Who is Brandon Graham? What do the people who know him best say about him? Guess what we found out? He was never without a smile. He always had a kind word for everyone. Nolan Smith offers his favorite Brandon Graham story. Day five of Eagles OTAs wasn't much different than the first four. The organization is about its business. There may be a Super Bowl banner added to the practice bubble, but to a man, every Bird that talks about the recent Lombardi Trophy win has seemingly placed it in their rearview memory. Everyone says they have turned the page. Graham turned that page and decided he'd retire, and with his exit, Philadelphia loses a locker room leader and a valuable contributor both on and off the field. The future rests in the hands of guys like Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt. Both are ready for expanded roles and the chance to prove their best football is still ahead of them. The routine is familiar. Coaches meet with the media before practice. Players speak with the media afterward. Following the June 3 session, Nolan was among the players who spoke at the podium. In an unexpected show of respect, he offered some perspective on one of the gifts given to him by Brandon Graham. Football is a unique game. There's a blend of cooperation and competition. The veterans who help these individuals become better players may also be the ones who will one day take their positions. Nolan Smith will never forget the impact Graham made on him. Two stories couldn't be more similar. The Eagles drafted Graham, a pass rusher, during the 2010 NFL Draft. 13 years later, they drafted another, the man who would eventually replace him. They're bonded by great personalities, slow starts to their career, similar pedigrees, but most importantly, they're bonded by brotherhood and friendship. Smith still talks to Graham every day, and that might be the best part about both of their stories. Might Nolan play in Philadelphia for 15 years? Time will tell, but deep down, it's easy to hope he will.
New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
Eagles OTAs observations: Vic Fangio talks Cooper DeJean, Bryce Huff
PHILADELPHIA — Vic Fangio recited a list of names he knew from heart. Zack Baun. Nakobe Dean. Oren Burks. Isaiah Rodgers. Moro Ojomo. Nolan Smith. C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Quinyon Mitchell. Cooper DeJean. Jalyx Hunt. Those names belonged to last year's defensive overhaul. All of them had either just been acquired by the Philadelphia Eagles — like their defensive coordinator himself in 2024 — or had yet to become a household name. It's a list of names that at this time last year, at most, would've only evoked hope — much like the list Fangio recited next, glancing down at a paper roster at one point to help his memory. Kelee Ringo. Adoree' Jackson. Sydney Brown. Tristin McCollum. Azeez Ojulari. Joshua Uche. Byron Young. Gabe Hall. Thomas Booker. Jihaad Campbell. Andrew Mukuba. Ty Robinson. Smael Mondon Jr. Advertisement Those names belong to this year's overhaul. Unlike their mint-condition offense, the Eagles have starting vacancies at cornerback, safety and edge rusher. They need an inside linebacker to fill in for Nakobe Dean, whom Fangio said 'won't be back any time soon' from the patellar tendon Dean tore in the NFC wild-card game. They need depth along a defensive front that lost Brandon Graham to retirement and Milton Williams to free agency. They're counting on those names. 'Some of those guys in that second list have to become like those guys in the first list,' Fangio said Tuesday, his first availability since Super Bowl LIX. 'And I don't know how that's gonna turn out. But I really look at it basically the same: one year to the next, the names have changed. Hopefully we'll get the same results from these new guys that we got from a lot of the new guys last year.' Fangio doesn't have long until this portion of the Eagles' calendar is complete. Tuesday was the team's penultimate OTAs workout. The Eagles' final voluntary session is Thursday, and they'll hold a one-day mandatory minicamp June 10 before breaking for the summer. Here are some observations and takeaways from Fangio's availability and the workout subsequently viewed during the last week of OTAs… Fangio casually disclosed that he's experimenting Cooper DeJean at safety (in addition to outside corner) within the defense's base packages, then downplayed the significance of DeJean's secondary position by inviting reporters to guess at how little the Eagles played in base during the 2024 season. (Per TruMedia, it's 8.4 percent.) But the issue isn't what DeJean's secondary position will be. It's what his primary position remains to be and what Fangio's experimentation says about the strength of the rest of the secondary. Advertisement Fangio first said he wants to keep DeJean at nickel. This in itself was noteworthy. It was the first time Fangio spoke with reporters since the Eagles created a vacancy at cornerback by releasing Darius Slay within a series of cost-cutting moves. Perhaps it's unsurprising; DeJean flourished at nickel as a defensive rookie of the year finalist. But before Fangio deployed DeJean at nickel, he said he'd still like to see DeJean at cornerback. Given that cornerbacks are more valuable than nickels in the NFL, Fangio's plans for DeJean carry substantial significance. A foreboding intimation went unsaid. That Fangio is considering playing DeJean at corner or safety in base packages suggests two things: 1) DeJean is too good to leave the field, and 2) DeJean is better than anyone the Eagles have at the corner or safety slot he's replacing. If both are true, then it's not wholly positive when one of Philadelphia's two best cornerbacks isn't playing cornerback. There is of course nuance. Fangio is trying to always field a best-possible secondary. That he wants to keep DeJean at nickel suggests in part that the drop-off from DeJean to the next-best nickel is greater than the drop-off from DeJean to the next-best cornerback or safety. Those who played nickel on Tuesday, apart from DeJean: Parry Nickerson (139 defensive snaps since 2019), A.J. Woods (no career snaps), fifth-round rookie Mac McWilliams, undrafted rookie Brandon Johnson. Fangio said the Eagles are 'well aware' that second-rounder Drew Mukuba played nickel at Clemson but 'we've focused him at safety right now.' (Mukuba's best years were at free safety.) The Eagles know more than most teams about the pitfalls of being on the wrong end of a mismatch at nickel. Former defensive coordinator Sean Desai cycled through five nickels during a dreadful 2023 season. Sydney Brown (now in a position battle at safety with Mukuba) was one of them. DeJean's impact in 2024 (particularly his pick-six in Super Bowl LIX) supplied the Eagles with further reasons to place a higher value on nickels. Still, it's worth noting that the Eagles entered the offseason aware of their plans to part ways with Slay and did little to secure more immediate options at nickel. Instead, the Eagles stockpiled cornerbacks at low investments. They signed Adoree' Jackson, a depth corner for the New York Giants last year, to a one-year, $1.8 million deal. They spent a fifth-round pick on McWilliams. The acquisitions formed the most favorable position battle for Kelee Ringo since the 2023 fourth-round pick first arrived in Philly. The Eagles have often voiced their confidence in the development of Ringo, who'll turn 23 on June 27. Ringo, a core special teams player with spells at corner during his two seasons, was the first-team cornerback on Tuesday when DeJean played nickel during team drills. Advertisement Ringo hasn't yet evolved from embodying a question mark. It's evident he's going to get his shot. Fangio quoted something coach Nick Sirianni said in a recent staff meeting — 'repetition is the burden of leadership' — and added that 'it's up to us to get (Ringo) enough reps in practice, expose him to all the things he needs to be exposed so he can … be a competent corner through a full game and a full season.' The global conversation around DeJean's versatility tends to be an overly positive one. It's warranted. He's proven he really is that good. He forced Jalen Hurts to tuck the ball while blanketing Dallas Goedert as an outside cornerback on Tuesday (DeJean didn't take reps at safety). But that the Eagles don't yet know whether they'll have a competent corner opposite Quinyon Mitchell for the vast majority of their snaps shouldn't be downplayed. Whether it's Ringo, Jackson or someone else — that's who has to hold down the perimeter while DeJean's playing nickel (which the Eagles played 80.5 percent of the time in 2024, per TruMedia). If the Eagles didn't have such an apparent depravity at nickel, DeJean could be that cornerback himself. The Bryce Huff trade is now complete. The Eagles announced Monday that their exchange with the San Francisco 49ers was pending a physical. Huff passed his physical on Tuesday. The Eagles will receive a conditional fifth-round pick, which becomes a fourth-round pick if certain measures are met. Signing Huff to a three-year, $51.1 million deal was a considerable swing and miss by general manager Howie Roseman. There were no immediate consequences; the Eagles still won Super Bowl LIX. But the Eagles must now identify depth along the defensive edge after Josh Sweat's departure in free agency to the Arizona Cardinals and Brandon Graham's retirement. Jalyx Hunt, a third-round pick in 2024, fielded a promising playoffs. The Eagles also signed Azeez Ojulari and Joshua Uche to one-year deals. When asked about the defense's remaining depth at edge rusher, Fangio said, 'I think we'll be fine.' He attributed Huff's brief tenure in Philadelphia to Huff's midseason wrist surgery, the opportunity it immediately afforded Nolan Smith (who was already playing more) and Jalyx Hunt, and the future those factors suggested. 'Well, I think the one thing is he was getting better and when he hurt his hand, you know, he tried to play with it a couple weeks,' Fangio said. 'It wasn't going good because he was reluctant to use his hand, and then, when they operated on it, he had to play with a big cast on his hand, which basically rendered his hand useless — and then rendered your arm useless because you can't use your hand. That really had an effect on him. And we just came out of draft season; first thing you see when they put a guy's name up on the board: his hand size, his arm length. Well, he lost all that. And in that, while he was out, Nolan got more snaps, Jalyx got more snaps and things evolved. But I think he'll do fine in San Francisco.' Fangio said starting Mike linebacker Nakobe Dean 'won't be back any time soon.' When Dean tore his patellar tendon in the NFC wild-card round, a league source said Dean could miss the start of the 2025 season while recovering. Dean has offered more hopeful expectations for his potential return, but Fangio's candor deepened the reality that the Eagles must identify a Mike linebacker for at least the beginning of the regular season. Advertisement Jeremiah Trotter Jr., a fifth-round pick in 2024, was fielded in tandem with Zack Baun as the first-team inside linebackers on Tuesday. Trotter, who was a core special teams contributor as a rookie, was expected to fulfill depth after former backup linebacker Oren Burks signed with the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency. If Trotter indeed starts, it's possible Baun could fulfill the Mike role, as he did for parts of the 2024 season. Fangio said Baun, a first-time All-Pro last year, will play 'wherever we need him the most.' It isn't favorable that No. 31 pick Jihaad Campbell could possibly start in place of Dean in Week 1. Campbell is still recovering from labrum surgery, and Fangio said Campbell 'won't hit the practice field' until 'sometime in August.' DeJean, who suffered a hamstring injury last summer, returned Aug. 13 and didn't secure the starting job at nickel until Week 6. It's yet uncertain whether Campbell's timeline will be similar. Campbell also has position versatility, but Fangio said the rookie is dedicating his time to inside linebacker 'because there's a lot more to learn there.' 'We're doing all we can,' Fangio said. 'He's doing all he can in meetings. We're doing all we can with him on the field. I take him to the side to do an individual drill with him that's suited to what he can do right now. So he's working good and trying to pick it up.' (Top photo of Cooper DeJean: Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)
NBC Sports
2 days ago
- Business
- NBC Sports
Eagles move Brandon Graham to reserve-retired list
After winning his second career Super Bowl and capping a record-tying 15 seasons with the Eagles, defensive end Brandon Graham announced his retirement. In April, he left the door open for a potential return, calling himself '90 percent' retired. On Monday, the Eagles officially placed Graham on the reserve-retired list. It ultimately changes nothing regarding Graham's status, if he would choose to return. Multiple teams have placed retired players on the reserve-retired list since June 1. It's a way to spread any remaining dead money over two years. Specifically, $4.555 million lands in 2025 and $4.444 million hits in 2026. Graham can unretire whenever he wants. The Eagles would have to decide whether to reinstate the remainder of his contract or trade/release him. For the player who retires, it's always better to be released — if he has any desire to potentially return. If he's released, he can sign with any other team at any other time, up to and including the last business day before the Super Bowl.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Brandon Graham submitted his paperwork and is officially retired from the NFL
Brandon Graham submitted his paperwork and is officially retired from the NFL Brandon Graham announced his retirement from the NFL after 15 seasons with the Eagles, and that move is now official after paperwork was submitted and the pass rusher was placed on the reserve list The Brandon Graham era on the field is over. The 15-year veteran announced his retirement from the Eagles and the NFL in an emotional press conference at the NovaCare Complex back in March. Graham thanked Andy Reid, Doug Pederson, Jim Schwartz, and others, but saved his most emotional praise for his wife and kids. Philadelphia prefers players to file their paperwork for a Post June 1 designation. On June 2, Graham's paperwork became official, and he joined Terron Armstead (Dolphins), Michael Pierce (Ravens), and Ronald Darby (Texans) as players officially played on the reserve/retired list. Graham's 15 seasons played are tied for the most in franchise history, and he sits atop the games played list with 206 regular-season appearances (plus 20 playoff contests). A second-team All-Pro in 2016 and a Pro Bowl selection in 2020, Graham logged 76.5 quarterback sacks in the regular season (plus 5.5 more in the postseason), ranking third in franchise history while playing in three Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl LII and LIX. In the win over New England in Super Bowl LII, Graham ensured he'd always be remembered thanks to his late-game strip-sack of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. With the official news, here's the instant analysis of Graham's final moment as a player. Patience is important Drafted as a linebacker out of Michigan, Graham struggled his first two seasons, and there was some thought of the edge rusher potentially being a bust. Doug Pederson brought in Jim Schwartz, and the rest is history. Patience helps because, from 2010-16, Graham had 29 sacks in 96 games. From 2017 to 22, Graham evolved, registering 41 sacks in 82 games. Graham developed into one of the NFL's top pass rushers Graham developed into a dual threat, capable of being stout against the run while wrecking games as a pass rusher. Graham's 76.5 sacks are third in franchise history, and his ability to generate pressure can be considered elite. The No. 55 will be retired The Philadelphia Eagles have officially retired nine jersey numbers: 5 (Donovan McNabb), 15 (Steve Van Buren), 20 (Brian Dawkins), 40 (Tom Brookshier), 44 (Pete Retzlaff), 60 (Chuck Bednarik), 70 (Al Wistert), 92 (Reggie White), and 99 (Jerome Brown). LeSean McCoy is in the ring of honor, and Jason Kelce and Graham will undoubtedly follow. You can't retire every number, but Kelce will certainly be a Pro Football Hall of Fame nominee, and Graham's resume deserves 55 going away forever, as well. Eagles traded up to draft Brandon Graham in 2010, and 15 years later, Graham played 206 games (most in Eagles history), won 2 Super Bowl rings, and registered 153 QB hits, 126 TFLs, and 76.5 sacks.
