The longest-tenured athlete in Philadelphia will be playing a 14th season with the Eagles.
Brandon Graham confirmed to ESPN that he will be signing a one-year deal worth up to $6 million for the 2023 campaign.
“I definitely don’t want to miss out on this championship that we’re about to make a run for,” Graham told ESPN. “I pretty much directed [my agent] Joel [Segal] just to get a deal done before free agency so I wouldn’t have to go through that part. I’m just so happy everything came to fruition.”
Brandon Graham is staying with the Eagles on a one-year deal, passing up the opportunity to test free agency. My story: https://t.co/tFeirUKGt7
— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) March 10, 2023
Graham, 34, was very effective in a rotational role for the Eagles’ No. 2 ranked defense last season, amassing a career-high 11 sacks while playing in just 43% of the defensive snaps, his lowest total in a non-injury season since 2014.
As the third man on the edge during a franchise-record 70-sack season, Graham fit it nicely behind Haason Reddick (16 sacks) and Josh Sweat (11) as the Philadelphia pass rush came at opposing quarterbacks in waves.
Graham, who missed the majority of the 2021 season with a torn Achilles, was graded as the fifth-ranked edge player in the NFL behind only stars like Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa, and Maxx Crosby.
It was the eighth time that Graham had finished among the top-10 edge rushers in the PFF era, an amazing turnaround from early in his career when many considered him a bust as the 13th overall pick in the 2010 draft, immediately ahead of Earl Thomas and Jason Pierre-Paul.
Graham has stated he wants to play 15 seasons and wants to finish where he started with the Eagles.
“It wasn’t even about no money. It was more about wanting to be an Eagle as long as I could still play at a high level,” he said.
Graham has appeared in 178 career regular-season games for Philadelphia and if he can stay healthy next season, the veteran will surpass David Akers (188) for most in franchise history.
