Brandon Graham has announced his retirement from the NFL after 15 seasons, all of which came with the Philadelphia Eagles. The veteran defensive end held a press conference at the NovaCare Complex Tuesday afternoon to announce the decision, along with his future plans with the organization.
“I gave it everything I had,” Graham said to start his presser. “I have no regrets.”
The longest-tenured player in Eagles history, Graham goes out with his final game being a Super Bowl victory. Graham won two Super Bowl championships with the Eagles, joining Lane Johnson, Rick Lovato, and Jake Elliott as the only players to win two Super Bowl championships with the Eagles franchise.
Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie released a statement after Graham officially announced his retirement.
Without question, Brandon Graham is the embodiment of everything you would want in a Philadelphia Eagle. He’s special player and person. It’s only fitting that he has played in more games than anyone else in the history of this franchise.
The positive energy he brought every day was infectious. Whether it was a practice, a game, or just walking around the building — anyone who has had the pleasure of interacting with him would tell you that it was impossible to have a bad day after being in his presence. Make no mistake, he was a tough, physical, and physical player who played an integral role in the success we had over the years.
Although Brandon is officially retiring as a player, we know that his impact on our team will continue to be felt for many years to come. Whether it is through culture he helped us build or his future endeavors, on behalf of the Philadelphia Eagles, we congratulate Brandon on an incredible career and wish him and his family all the best in retirement.
Graham played in the most regular-season games in Eagles history (206), standing as the only player to play in 200 regular-season games for the franchise. Graham is also the only player to play 15 seasons for the franchise, breaking a tie with Chuck Bednarik for the most seasons played in an Eagles uniform. His 218 total games played, including playoffs, are also the most ever for a player in franchise history.
Responsible for arguably the greatest play in Eagles history, strip-sacking Tom Brady with under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LII 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. Graham’s 5.5 sacks in the postseason are the most in Eagles franchise history.
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One of the most legendary players to don an Eagles uniform, Graham ends his career with the third-most sacks (76.5) in franchise history — behind only Reggie White (124.0) and Trent Cole (85.5). Graham was a second team All-Pro in 2016 and a Pro Bowl selection in 2020, while also notching a career-high 11 sacks in 2022 at the age of 34. Per PFF, Graham is fifth in pressures since 2010 (702) and 11th in pressure rate (15.5%) amongst players with at least 1,000 snaps played since 2010 (his rookie season).
Graham will go down as one of the best players in Eagles history, ending an incredible career with the franchise as a champion.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything sweeter than this,” Graham said. “Fifteen years ago, I walked into this city with dreams, big dreams. Today as I sit here, my entire life his been forever changed because of this magical place.”
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