PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tinged with a touch of gray in his beard, a bulky brace on his left arm, Brandon Graham is ready to attempt a comeback in time for the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl champion defensive end isn't quite ready to say if his playing career is over.
Retirement declarations can wait; the veteran Philadelphia Eagles defensive end can say with certainty, though, that he's trying to rehab a torn triceps and return for the Feb. 9 Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Whatever I've got to do for this one game,” Graham said Thursday, “I feel like I can do it.”
Graham was a limited participant in practice on Thursday, his first one in more than two months that creates a possibility for a potential return in the Super Bowl from an injury once considered season-ending.
The 36-year-old Graham was thought to be done for the season after he tore his triceps in a Nov. 24 game against the Los Angeles Rams.
Graham was placed on injured reserve two days later, seemingly ending what he had called the final season of his career. As the Eagles kept winning, including all three NFC playoff games, Graham started to hint he could put on his No. 55 jersey — he considered it a good luck sign when the Eagles scored 55 points in the NFC title game — in the Super Bowl.
“We've got two weeks. Today was a great start,” Graham said. “As long as I don't have no setbacks, I don't think it's going to be a problem.”
Graham is one of two position players and four players overall left from the Eagles' Super Bowl championship team in the 2017 season.
Will Graham be part of that group next season? The Eagles' first-round pick out of Michigan in 2010, Graham said in training camp this would be his final season. His injury caused him to reexamine his choice, though his retirement decision isn't final.
“I ain't there yet, man,” Graham said. “We're going to get this one. Let's go get this one and then we'll talk about it.”
He is responsible for one of the great moments in Eagles history with his strip-sack of New England's Tom Brady in the Super Bowl with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter. Derek Barnett recovered and the Eagles hung on to win 41-33.
Graham missed most of 2021 with a torn Achilles tendon, but came back the next season to get a career-high 11 sacks. Graham had 3 1/2 sacks in 11 games this season before he was injured. He holds the franchise record with 5 1/2 career postseason sacks.
Graham is still on injured reserve and does not count against the 53-man roster. The Eagles will also practice Friday and Saturday before they leave Sunday for New Orleans.
His teammates were thrilled the gregariously popular Graham — the Eagles' nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award — was back in the fold.
“You heard him before you saw him, that’s for damn sure,” offensive lineman Jordan Mailata said. “It was amazing having him out there again. Just the energy, it’s infectious, man. It’s the right timing, man.”
The key injured starters the Eagles held out of practice on Thursday included guard Landon Dickerson (knee), center Cam Jurgens (back) and wide receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring). None of the injured Eagles was expected to miss the Super Bowl.
Without Graham, the Eagles have enjoyed success using a three-player rush combination of Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat and Jalyx Hunt.
Graham played 18 snaps without a tackle or sack when Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35 two years ago.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni sounded downbeat when he announced in November that Graham's injury was season-ending.
“His energy is contagious. If you’re having a bad day and you get around him, he can turn your day positive. Obviously, the type of player he is speaks for itself and the play on the field,” he said in the days after the injury. “He was having a great year. I just can’t say enough about him as a leader, as a captain, as a teammate.”
Now, Graham has a chance of one more game left in his career — and it seems inconceivable that the franchise leader in career games played at 206 worked so hard to get back just to sit out the Super Bowl.
“I'm just hype to be back on that field, man,” Graham said, “and can't wait to get after it tomorrow.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Dan Gelston, The Associated Press
