The Brandon Graham Injury Will Weigh Heavy On The Eagles
Even at 36, Brandon Graham was still making his presence felt for the Eagles. He had 3.5 sacks off edge, 12 stops, and 20 pressures. 1 of those sacks and 1 of those stops came in the Rams game, where Graham seemed to be all over the place.
But then what was a great night for him, turned into a nightmare. He left the game with an injury and afterward told the Eagles media he had torn his tricep and his season was over.
It is awful for multiple reasons. Firstly, because it just sucks on behalf of BG. He is an Eagles legend. He holds the record for most games played in an Eagles jersey. He just moved into 3rd place on the franchise sack list. It was BG who got the strip sack on Tom Brady that helped seal the Eagles 1st ever Super Bowl. For this to be how his career potentially ends is a shame.
Loss Of Brandon Graham Makes Already Thin Position Even Thinner
But beyond feeling bad for Graham the human being, it hurts the Eagles as a team. Edge Rusher was already a bit of a weakness for them. Bryce Huff has not panned out so far this season and is currently on the IR. BG getting hurt too means they have just 3 Edge Rushers left. Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, and Jalyx Hunt.
Sweat is having a bounce-back year. He is up to 7 sacks on the season. Nolan Smith after a disappointing rookie season has emerged a bit this year and is up to 3.5 sacks. Hunt has not played a ton in his rookie season yet, but has impressed in limited snaps.
This is nothing against those 3, but the loss of BG puts pressure on an already thin position. They signed KJ Henry to the practice squad, but they certainly can’t bank on him helping. They can maybe get by now with just those 3 guys, but one more injury could be disastrous for them.
NFL insider James Palmer joined The Best Show Ever this week and talked about how the Brandon Graham could hurt the Eagles.
“They’re just thinner at Edge. They haven’t been able to get a whole lot of edge presence throughout the course of this year. This is actually a really big loss because it’s not just the legend that is Brandon Graham who will never pay for a beer in Philly for the rest of his life. It’s he was playing outstanding at 36 years old.”
Luckily Graham said he will still be around as a leader. So they don’t lose him entirely. That is a very important part of his place on the team. Saquon specifically credited Graham with how quickly he was able to fit into the Eagles locker room.
But the loss of the player will be big. Not saying it will sink their defense, that unit could still be very good, but the loss of Graham will be hard. Not just because they lack depth at Edge, but because he was playing so well this season.
The guys left will have to get by for now. They will not be able to handle any more injuries. Huff will be back at some point, and hopefully, he plays better when he does return. But for now, they are going to feel the loss of Brandon Graham.
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