Eagles' Brandon Graham excited to make his return against Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Eagles legend Brandon Graham will officially make his return to the field tonight against the Packers at Lambeau Field.

“I’m excited, man,” Graham said on Saturday. “No expectations. Just going out there just like it’s been in practice. Enjoying the time and just excited to see these boys because they put in some work this week. 

“Just bringing the energy. That’s it. Bringing that energy. We all been leading out there. Just excited to see [Jaelan Phillilps], see how he adds to what we already got. Just can’t wait to see Jalyx and all them boys up front get after it.”

Graham, 37, officially unretired a few weeks ago but was not activated to the 53-man roster for the Eagles’ Week 8 game against the Giants. The target was to have him ready for Monday Night Football in Green Bay.

And after three weeks of preparing, Graham is ready to take the field for his franchise-record 16th NFL season.

“It’s been good,” he said. “I was honestly shocked myself. Like, ‘Wow, OK, I can do this for real.’ Because this is my first time coming off the couch for real and coming right into it. It’s great. Feel fresh. 

“Feel like I’ve been training, getting ready for training camp and now I’m going through my little training camp phase of the three weeks I’ve been going in practice and stuff even during the bye week. Now I’m just excited to go out there and play one game at a time.”

Monday night will be Graham’s 207th career regular season game. The next closest player on the all-time franchise list is Jason Kelce, who played in 193.

Graham said he knows he’s ready to take the field after participating in practice in recent weeks. There wasn’t anything in particular that stood out.

But after a decade and a half in the NFL, Graham’s experience tells him he’s good.

“I’ve seen guys that came in and was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s time. It’s time for them to let it go,’” Graham said before unleashing one of his signature cackles. “I was hoping that wasn’t for me either. For me, I honestly still feel the same as I felt last year.”

Before tearing his triceps in Week 12 against the Rams last season, Graham was playing at a high level in what was supposed to be his final NFL season. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio played Graham a lot and Graham rewarded him with 3 1/2 sacks, 7 QB hits and 6 TFLs in 11 games.

Since Graham’s decision to come out of retirement, the Eagles went out and traded for Philips from Miami to further bolster the edge rusher rotation.

“I’ve been around for a long time,” Graham said. “If we got a team the way we do right now. He felt like he was a couple pieces away. We always, every time I’ve been here, we always have a deep edge rushing room. I look at it like iron sharpening iron and that’s just the truth. You have to have other irons in here in order for us to keep getting better. It’s motivating.”