Eagles veteran defensive end Brandon Graham has been with the team for many years — long enough to know when there are issues that need to be solved.
Philadelphia’s defense clearly collapsed down the stretch last year, leading to the team suffering a blowout loss in the wild card round of the postseason. During his Wednesday press conference, Graham was talking about younger defensive linemen, noting they have a “good coach” leading the defensive line in Clint Hurtt when he began to discuss what happened to the defense as a whole in 2023.
“I really think that last year, we just didn’t — that’s what we didn’t have. We didn’t have all the right coaches in the right position, I would say,” Graham said. “You know, you can just see the guys just truly believing in what’s going on. I’m excited for the young guys who just came in, new rookies coming in — they’re really going to get a good shot and good taste of what it is to be in the NFL.”
Asked how early he noticed that coaches might not be properly placed, Graham said there was “little stuff” that came up — instances where individuals weren’t on the same page.
“It would pop up. But it popped up in a big way that last game,” Graham said. “It’s just like, [if there’s] anything I’ve learned, you always want to make sure that we just have the proper communication. So it’s real big communication going on right now — within the locker room, on the field, in the classrooms.
“I’m more excited about — just because we do have [Vic] Fangio, somebody experienced, real good. Not saying anything about the past, but it’s just more — you can just tell that everybody’s on the same page about stuff.”
Graham added that he knew General Manager Howie Roseman would be proactive in getting the issues fixed during the offseason, and that’s exactly what happened.
“He’s the wizard, I say, just trying to figure it out — where we went wrong, being honest, having those hard conversations,” Graham said. “And [he’s] not scared to make certain moves to make sure that when you’ve got a good team like we did, and good players, sometimes it doesn’t always reflect that [in the record] because of us not being on the same page.
“I think he did a good job of just bringing the guys in, really bringing some real good coaches … and I’m excited to see where we go.”
Graham said he’s already detected some positive results from having Fangio’s experience leading the defense during the offseason program.
“[T]he communication has been really good and flawless, almost,” Graham said. “We’ve got some work, for sure. But I love that everybody [is just] on the same page and talking the same language — every room on defense.”
