Brandon Graham

At 36 years old, Brandon Graham has this physical status:

Brandon Lee Graham (born April 3, 1988) is a retired football defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League, a national football league quarterback (NFL).

He was drafted by the Eagles in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, his thirteenth draft pick in the draft and first from the Big Ten Conference.

He played college football at Michigan. Graham was named second in his second team's All-Pro selection in 2016.

During the 2017 NFL season, he led the Philadelphia Eagles in quarterback sacks with 9.5, making some of Philadelphia's biggest plays in recent history, as he announced a pivotal strip sack in the final minutes of the Super Bowl victory. As a result of the Chicago Tribune's Silver Football award, Graham was named co-MVP for the 2009 Big Ten Conference.

After finishing second in 2008 by.01 TFL per game, he was the 2009 FBS tackles (TFLs) for a loss (per game) champion.

He was the 2008 and 2009 Big Ten Conference TFL (total) champions.

He had a total of 29.5 sacks and 56 career TFLs for the Michigan Wolverines football team after completing his career as defensive end for the 2009 Michigan Wolverines football team.

In 2008, he was in charge of the Big Ten Conference in TFLs (20 in 11 games).

In 2009, he had 26 TFLs and 10.5 sacks in 12 games.

Both the coaches and the media recognized him as a member of the 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team, earning Second-team 2008 Big Ten All-conference recognition.

He was a finalist for the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football Hendricks Award.

The coaches and media selected him as the First Team of the 2009 All-Big Ten Challenge.

Various publications have listed him on numerous first-team and Second-team lists for 2009.

Graham was also named MVP of the 2010 Senior Bowl. He was a highly decorated and highly rated linebacker who served as captain of the 2006 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in high school.

He was listed on many All-American lists and was a finalist for several of the top individual awards a high school football player can receive.

Early years

As a youth, Graham played for the Police Athletic League for seven years before joining the eighth grade team. Graham was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and the fact that there was no such locker room for its football team before moving to Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) football tournaments in 1996. Since there were no lights on the football field, parents had to keep their vehicle lights on the field for late practices. At Crockett, Graham, who had been playing football since age seven, was supposed to make a prompt impact upon joining the football team's starting lineup as a sophomore, and at the end of the season, he was named as an honorable mention lineman 2003 All-Detroit pick by The Detroit News.

Graham spent time as a junior, offensive guard, placekicker, and punter for his team, and he coached his team to the MHSAA state championships, while another as a linebacker on the team. Crockett won the Division 1 MHSAA semifinals at Ford Field and advanced to the Division 5 MHSAA semifinals with a 12–0 record, but Crockett lost 9-0 to defending state champion Lumen Christi Catholic High School. In addition to averaging 91 tackles (20 for a loss), he maintained his 3.8 grade point average. He had twelve tackles, four forced fumbles, two blocked punts, and scored on a 78-yard fake punt in one game. He was selected for the first-team Class B all-state team of the Associated Press as a linebacker.

Rivals.com ranked Graham as the top class of 2006 high school football prospects in the state of Michigan, the top class of the country's highest school football prospect and the overall fifteenth best hope in the country. Scout.com named him as the country's highest linebacker, and ranked him as the country's top overall candidate. He was also rated as "arguably the best inside linebacker in the country" by Scout. He was ranked as the nation's top linebacker and top thirty-one candidate. Graham was named as the best linebacker in the United States by recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. He was ranked 15th in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's top 25 prospects.

According to The Detroit News, he was the most popular high school football player in Michigan going into his senior season. At the Nike Summer football camp, he had run a 4.43-second 40-yard dash. As a senior, he planned to play both tight end and fullback. He was listed as a linebacker, tight end, and offensive guard by one of Detroit News preseason analysts. Graham was chosen as one of 78 players to participate in the All-American Bowl at the Alamodome in 2006 after missing four weeks due to a knee injury. He was also selected as a finalist for both the Parade All-America High School player of the year (the high school equivalent of the Heisman Trophy) and the Walter Payton Trophy. In the game that also featured two of his Michigan teammates, Justin Boren and Stevie Brown), he was voted captain of the East team at the United States Army All-American Bowl and scored four tackles as well as a blocked field goal. Only 16 finalists were selected for the Parade award, including future Michigan teammate Stephen Schilling and future Heisman winner Tim Tebow. In the MHSAA Division 5 district championship game, Graham led his team to a rematch against Lumen Christi, who lost 35-21. They went undefeated in the regular season in Graham's three years as a senior, and as a member of the All-Detroit first team as a linebacker. Graham was also named as a member of the Associated Press Class B All-State football team as the year's best player of the year. He was selected by the Detroit News to the All-Class state Dream Team. He was also selected as the best linebacker in Michigan as part of the Mid-Michigan Touchdown Club's inaugural class for being the best at his position in the state. He had a 3.2 grade point average by his senior year.

Graham was the first Michigan athlete to play in the United States All-American Bowl, but he wasn't aware that he was breaking Michigan state laws by participating in an out-of-state all-star game. For the winter and spring seasons, he had to forfeit his high school athletic status. During his time away from athletics, he overate and gained 40 pounds (18 kg). Despite being recruited as a linebacker, he was soon moved to the defensive end due to his increased weight. He started to notice that he would be able to be a better body at a lighter weight as he shed the excess weight.

Graham received numerous awards for his athletic achievements. Parade Magazine All-American, EA Sports All-American, USA Today All-America High School is a newspaper distributed in the United States. He was honoured. (No. 57.) United States Today (USA Today) has a list of the top players in the country for the first time in the United States Army All-American Bowl, 2005 Detroit News No. 14 was a player from Michigan's first player to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. No. 1 is a candidate for 1 Blue Chips and No. 87 is out of office. 2nd place on the Detroit Free Press Best of the Midwest &c Polls. In addition,, he was named one of Michigan's best prep athletes in 2005-2006, including male and women from all sports, as a 2006 McDonald's-Powerade Tomorrow's Winners at the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame dinner.

Personal life

Graham is married to Carlyne Graham.

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College career

Graham arrived in Michigan with a weight of 295 pounds (134 kilograms) and 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m). Graham was originally listed as a linebacker at Michigan, but before the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season began for the 2006 Michigan Wolverines football team, he switched to defensive end. Graham was (along with Greg Matthews, Carlos Brown, Brandon Minor, and Stevie Brown) one of five true freshmen to play in the season's first game. Graham was a back-up for 2006 Lombardi Award and 2006 Ted Hendricks Award winner LaMarr Woodley. During the season, Graham was also a reserve defensive tackle. On October 28, Graham played his first tackle for Michigan against Northwestern, earning his first suspension and compelled fumble against Indiana on November 11 against Indiana.

Graham received some surprising news off the field when he found out that he had been given a flawless 99 rating in the NCAA Division I FBS football season, even though his coworkers Chad Henne, Jake Long, and Mike Hart had not. Graham was also issued a ticket playing loud music in a car on July 24 and skipped the September 18 court date after pleaded not guilty. A judge was convicted of refusing to appear in court on a disorderly conduct charge, triggering an arrest warrant. Under the suspicion that he had been misidentified, the charges were dismissed. He weighed 262 pounds (119 kg) at the start of training camp and was the projected starter at defensive end. Despite being slated as the starter, Graham appeared sparingly in the first game loss to the Appalachian State Mountaineers, two-time defending FCS champions, on September 1. "Brandon, he needs to get concentrated," Carr said at the start of the season, "and do the things he's capable of doing." Graham's attempts in practice were dissatisfied. Michigan defeated Notre Dame 3.5 sacks in the third game of the season on September 15 in the rivalry game to help Michigan win its first game of the season. In a win over Penn State, he had 1.5 sacks, a coerced fumble, and a fumble revival. He appeared in six games at the defensive end of the season. He was the second in forced fumbles with 8.5 and was second in forced fumbles with 3. Both estimates show he ranked seventh in the Big Tenn in both metrics. He was a middle-season Ted Hendricks Award watch list candidate.

Graham, who had been plagued by conditioning issues from the previous season, arrived at spring practice in good shape, delighting newly hired head coach Rich Rodriguez, who was welcomed by a defensive line largely made up of returning starters, including Graham. Graham began the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season as a Hendricks award watch list candidate for the 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team. However, the team debuted in the Associated Press poll for the first time in 23 years. Graham had 3 sacks and two forcible fumbles against the Wisconsin Badgers on September 27, and was named Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the Week. Graham was rewarded a victory ahead of the Paul Bunyan Trophy game against Michigan State on October 25. Despite the fact that the team lost 35-21, Graham had three sacks. Graham had 10 sacks on the season, which was enough. With 20 tackles for a loss and 1.82 tackles for loss per game, he was second in second with 0.91 sacks/game. He came in second in tackles for loss and tied for eleventh in sacks. Both the coaches and the media selected him as a 2008 Second-Team All-Big Ten Conference pick after the season. Graham was named as the team's Most Valuable Player.

Graham qualified for the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football championship as a watchlist candidate for the Bednarik Award, Hendricks Award, Lott Trophy, and Nagurski Trophy. Before the season, ESPN selected him as the 10th best player in the Big Ten Conference. He ended the season as the Chicago Tribune Silver Football recipient as the Big Ten co-MVP (with Daryll Clark). He was the seventh defensive player to win the award and second in the last 25 years, as well as the first co-recipient. Graham was the first player from a losing team in eight years and was only the second player to win who was not named as either a Big Ten offensive or defensive player of the year. In 12 games, he had 26 tackles for loss, leading the nation with 2.17 average tackles for a loss per game (ahead of conference rival O'Brien Schofield, who came in second with 1.884). In the Big Ten Conference, his 10.5 sacks ranked fourth. He had three solo tackles for losses in four games four times during the season. In his last two games, including a career-high 5 solo tackles against Ohio State in the 2009 rivalry game, he concluded his career at Michigan, ending his career with 9 tackles for losses (8 solo and 2 assists) in his final two games, including a career-best 5 solo tackles for defeats against Ohio State in his final game of his career. Graham was one of seven finalists for the Hendricks Award. He was a 2009 First-Team All-Big Ten pick by the coaches and media at the end of the season. He was a First-Team All-America Team pick by ESPN, Rivals.com, and Scout.com, and the Walter Camp Football Foundation selected him as a Second-team All-American defensive line selection by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, and The Sporting News. Pro Football Weekly named him an All-American (which had no second squad). Graham was named as the team MVP once more, making him the school's first defensive player to be a two-time MVP. Graham was the only Big Ten player on Mel Kiper Jr.'s "Big Board" Top 25 as of December 2009. Brandon Graham made MVP Award at the 2010 Senior Bowl on January 30, 2010, two sacks, one forced fumble.

Professional career

Graham ranked eighth among defensive linemen with a 4.72 40-yard dash and 10th in the bench press with 31 points at the NFL Combine, ranking eighth eighth overall and 10th in the bench press.

In the first round (13th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Graham. The Philadelphia Eagles obtained the pick after trading their first round pick (24th overall), third round pick (70th overall), and an additional third round pick (87th overall) to the Denver Broncos. In the 2010 NFL Draft, Graham was the first defensive and Big Ten Conference pick. After the draft, he decided to wear number 94 for the Eagles but later changed his mind and chose number 54.

The Philadelphia Eagles signed Graham to a five-year, $16.90 million contract with a dollar guarantee that begins on July 29, 2010. Graham was scheduled to finish training camp as a starting defensive end. Graham and Trent Cole were the starting defensive ends for the regular season, according to head coach Andy Reid.

He made his professional debut and his first appearance in the Philadelphia Eagles' season-opener against the Green Bay Packers, but didn't record a single statistic during their 27-20 loss. Following the 35-32 victory over the Detroit Lions, he had two solo tackles and made his first appearance as a professional fired. During the first quarter, Graham was fired for his first attempt in his career on Lions quarterback Shaun Hill for a two-yard loss. During a 31-26 loss to the Chicago Bears on November 28, 2010, Graham finished with three solo tackles and one sack. During a 30-27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on December 12, 2010, Graham suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Graham was activated by the Philadelphia Eagles on December 14, 2010. On December 21, he underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee.

He was put on the active/physically unable to perform list on July 28, 2011, just days before the start of training camp. He was taken from the physically fit to perform list, so he could return to practice on October 24 and was announced on November 5, 2011. He went from defensive end to linebacker in 2013. Many people expected him to be a linebacker at the pro level even when he was still in college.

Graham came close to signing with the New York Giants in 2015, but the Eagles have a four-year deal with $14 million guaranteed to keep the team.

For the 2016 Philadelphia Eagles, he had 59 tackles, two forced fumbles, 11 run stuff, and 5.5 sacks. The Associated Press selected him to the 2016 All-Pro 2nd Team following the 2016 NFL season, in which he returned to defensive action under new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. The Pro Football Writers Association has also named him as a first team All-Pro by Pro Football Focus and All-NFC. According to Pro Football Focus, the ninth best player in the NFL was rated as the ninth best player in the league. He was ranked 93nd by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.

In the Eagles' 30–10 victory over the Washington Redskins, he had four tackles, two sacks, and a pass deflection in his first season in the franchise. Since he had 9.5 sacks and 47 tackles for the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, he earned multiple performance awards. His 9.5 sacks led the team and were a career high. He had two tackles for a loss in the final game against the Atlanta Falcons on January 13. With 2:21 remaining in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LII, he stripped Tom Brady, sparking a fumble recovered by teammate Derek Barnett. The Eagles defeated the Browns 41-33.

Graham underwent ankle surgery earlier this month, which meant he missed some offseason workouts because of it. He had 39 total tackles, four sacks, and a forced fumble in 2018.

Graham signed a three-year, $40 million contract extension with the Eagles through the 2021 season on March 1, 2019. Graham dismissed Luke Falk 3 times in week 5 of the 2019 season against the New York Jets, 31-6. Graham had a strip sack on Josh Allen on week 8 against the Buffalo Bills and recovered the ball in a 31-13 victory.

On March 15, 2021, Graham agreed to a one-year contract extension with the Eagles.

Graham sustained a torn Achilles in Week 2 of the 2021 season and was placed on season-ending injured reserve on September 21, 2021.

Graham was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career, after averaging 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, a pass for defense, five quarterback hits, and a forced fumble in week three of the 2022 season.

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