TJ Edwards spoke to reporters on Thursday afternoon and was asked about the significance of wearing the green dot on his helmet for the Eagles this season.
Brandon Graham sounds more surprised than anybody that he got to this point.
Going into his 13th season as an Eagle, something only four players in franchise history have ever done.
Chuck Bednarik. Brian Dawkins. Harold Carmichael. Bucko Kilroy. That’s the company Graham will join on Sunday.
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Three Hall of Famers and a kid from Northeast Catholic and Temple who played on both Eagles NFL Championship teams in the 1940s.
“You know what, as I started to creep up, then it started to be more, ‘I want to play these double-digit years,’” he said. “You say you want to play a long time because Ray Lewis was my guy growing up, and so to see him play 17 (years) at one place and me already at 13? Man, I just couldn’t have dreamed that because it just doesn’t happen that often.
“And I know a couple times during those periods of not knowing if I’m going to be back or not I just was like, ‘Man, I’m just thankful for the opportunity regardless.’"
NFL
How long has Graham been an Eagle?
He was drafted 18 days after the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb. He’s one of only two players from the 2010 draft still on his original team (along with the Patriots’ Devin McCourty) and one of only 10 left in the league. He’s spent 38 percent of his life as an Eagle.
The Eagles expect the 34-year-old Graham to be a situational pass rusher this year, and he’ll begin his 13th NFL season Sunday in his hometown of Detroit.
But such a big part of his role these days is team leader, hype man and mentor to the Eagles’ younger players. There’s nobody better equipped to handle that than Graham, who has experienced some unbelievable extremes in his career – dealing with the 1st-round bust label his first few years and then becoming a Super Bowl hero in 2017 and then a first-time Pro Bowler at 32.
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“For me, just trying to make sure that I pour (my knowledge) into the guys because you just never know what’s going to happen and what’s on the other side of whatever adversity you go through and stuff like that,” he said. “But just make sure you keep a positive attitude through it and always take the high road even when stuff didn’t go like you thought it should.
“So I think a little bit of my attitude and a little bit of luck got me to this place and I’m just happy because in the beginning I was just trying to make plays and just trying to get that bust label off me.”
B.G has played 161 regular-season games, and only four active position players have played more and remain with their original team: Aaron Rodgers, Cameron Jordan, McCourty and Cameron Heyward.
The only people in franchise history to play more games than Graham and never play for another team are Brent Celek, who played 175 games from 2007 through 2017, and Bednarik, who played 169 from 1949 to 1962. Jason Kelce is two games behind B.G. at 159.
Among position players, only Dawkins (183), Carmichael (180), Celek (175), Bednarik and Tra Thomas (166) have played more games as an Eagle than Graham.
David Akers (188) and Jon Dorenbos (162) have also played more than Graham.
If B.G. plays every game this year, he’ll be at 178.
Graham said a key to extending his career was the changes in the CBA that changed the way NFL teams were allowed to practice.
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“I came up under Andy Reid and Andy Reid ran a hard training camp and it was tough under that old CBA, but he was just really weeding out the ones that didn’t want to be there,” he said. “As a young player, man, that was the toughest.
“When I first got here, I remember me and Nate Allen sitting in the hot tub before practice and it was just like, ‘Man, I can’t believe we’ve been doing this two weeks straight, same practice three hours and then another three hours,’ and it’s like you really have to take your mind there.
“I think it’s just a new day and a lot of guys are probably going to play longer than (previously) because of the type of schedule we go through nowadays, and it’s so different these days now where I feel like I can play as long as they allow me to play.”
Graham is serious when he says he wants to play at least 15 years, a plateau only 15 defensive ends in NFL history have ever reached – seven of them Hall of Famers.
He plays at this point because he loves the game, loves his teammates and just loves being a Philadelphia Eagle.
He’s made just under $90 million the last 12 years, and he’ll never be a guy who sticks around just for another payday.
“If I start to see myself falling off I’m not going to be scared to say, ‘You know what? It is what it is. If that’s this year or next year, whatever it is, I just feel like I’m going to be real with myself and just make that transition to take it to the next level of whatever else I want to do.
“But if they let me come back after this year then I would love to be able to keep setting records in this organization because it’s a top-notch organization and I’m so thankful for them because they changed my life.
“We got a ring together here and hopefully we can end on a great note. Whatever year that is. Get us another ring.”