Philadelphia Eagles legend Brandon Graham has reportedly held shock talks about sensationally ending his NFL retirement.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, Graham has already held initial discussions with the Eagles about returning to the franchise he won two Super Bowls with.
The 37-year-old, who made $97million during his NFL career, walked away from football back in February after helping the Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
It was a miracle he played in New Orleans, having worked his way back from a torn triceps that he suffered in Week 12 of last year’s NFL season. Graham went on to re-tear the muscle during the win in Louisiana.
But now he could be primed to suit up for a 16th NFL season and bring some much-needed help to the Eagles defense. They are tied for 25th in the NFL with nine sacks.
Jason Kelce hinted on the radio this week that Graham, his former Eagles teammate, could be returning.
Eagles legend Brandon Graham has reportedly held shock talks about ending his retirement
Graham, pictured with his wife and two children, retired after winning the Super Bowl this year
He said on WIP-FM: ‘They’ve been banged up on the edge, banged up with Nolan Smith. They would benefit from having his (Graham) physicality and the way he plays defensive end on the field.
‘Outside of that, I only want Brandon Graham to play football if he wants to play football. I don’t think when he retired he fully wanted to stop playing football.
‘It felt like he got convinced that it was time to hang it up. And I don’t know this, I think at the end of the day if Brandon in his heart wants to come back, I think the Eagles should damn sure give him that opportunity because I think they need that.’
The former first-round draft pick out of Michigan in 2010 ended his career as the all-time leader in games played for the Eagles with 206, ranked third with 76.5 sacks and had the most postseason sacks with 5.5.
Graham is also one of four players who participated in both of Philadelphia’s Super Bowl wins: following the 2017 season against New England and in February against Kansas City.
After working his way back from injury, Graham got on the field for 13 snaps and made one tackle in the 40-22 win over Travis Kelce and Co.
He had a much bigger impact in the Super Bowl win against the Patriots when Graham’s strip-sack of Tom Brady late in the fourth quarter thwarted a comeback attempt and helped deliver Philadelphia its first Lombardi Trophy.
