The Eagles can’t rest everyone.
While Nick Sirianni made the decision this week to rest most of his key starters, there are obvious limitations to how many players can sit. So that means that 37-year-old Brandon Graham, in his 16th NFL season, is expecting to play against the Commanders in Week 18.
And Graham is pretty excited about getting another chance to play.
“I feel good, man,” Graham said. “Anytime you get an opportunity to go out there and play, especially because we’re trying to win too, it’s like any other week. You prepare the same, you enjoy the opportunities whenever they come because there’s a lot of people wish they could even just be in the game. I always take it as another opportunity to go out and put our talents on display.”
The Eagles brought Graham out of retirement in the middle of this season after he initially decided to walk away from the game after the 2024 season ended with a Super Bowl victory. But since his return, Graham has played in 8 games this season and has 3 sacks in just 85 total snaps.
Graham is already the Eagles’ all-time leader in seasons and games played and will add to that on Sunday. This will be his 215th regular season game.
He is also sitting at 79.5 career sacks, which ranks third on the Eagles’ all-time list behind just Reggie White (124.0) and Trent Cole (85.5). So if Graham can pick up another sack on Sunday, he’d become just the third Eagles player ever to have 80 sacks in a career.
But Graham also takes his leadership role seriously and he knows he’ll be out there with a bunch of his young teammates on Sunday. So he’s ready to lead them.
“Oh yeah, man. All it is, is communication,” Graham said. “Communicating with each other, knowing exactly what it is that you already know. Just don’t be hesitant. Whatever the call is, make your call and stay with it. As long as we’re all running the same thing, that’s all that matters. I just want to keep encouraging them. I kind of look at it like they the main characters and I’m just the supporting staff out there, just trying to support and be there for the guys. So excited for them because people be wanting their opportunities, so here it is.”
The Eagles already ruled out six players on their final injury report of the week and are going to hold out plenty more on Sunday. Most of the starters aren’t going to play even though the Eagles enter Week 18 with a chance to improve their playoff seeding.
If the Eagles beat the Commanders on Sunday and the Bears lose to the Lions, the Eagles will move from the 3-seed in the NFC to the 2-seed entering the playoffs.
There’s plenty at stake in this game and Graham is excited to watch his inexperienced teammates get their opportunity.
“Anything that we can do to keep them at ease,” Graham said. “All I know is, for me, my confidence is up when I put the work in. That’s all I’m telling them. Just make sure you’re taking every day, make your mistakes in practice. By the time you get to Saturday, you should be on it. …
“The work is done and now you just have to be confident in what you prepared. And I’m excited, man, because I feel that these guys got a lot of people that’s going to be supporting them out there that’s ahead of them that’s doing it the right way. I just can’t wait to see the reflection of how that looks with them out there.”
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
