As Brandon Graham retired, Jalen Hurts showed why Eagles don't have a leadership void
PHILADELPHIA − In the span of a calendar year, Brandon Graham became the third Eagles icon to announce his retirement.
You would think it would be impossible to replace that leadership, experience and knowledge that Graham brought through his franchise-record 15 seasons with the Eagles, along with Jason Kelce's 13 years and Fletcher Cox's 12.
Yet the Eagles won a Super Bowl less than a year after Kelce and Cox retired with their 13 combined Pro Bowl selections. The Eagles could very well win another this coming season now that Graham is joining them by announcing his retirement Tuesday after placing third on the Eagles' all-time list for sacks with 76.5.
The reason why the Eagles still have that leadership was evident a few minutes after Graham's retirement press conference replete with Kelce-like tears, some of Graham's trademark trash talking, and, of course, his mentoring for the Eagles' younger players.
Jalen Hurts holds up “15” for 15 years Brandon Graham played for the Eagles pic.twitter.com/sHy57ONL3h
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) March 18, 2025
That's when Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts walked up on the stage to pose for pictures with Graham as Graham held the Eagles' two Super Bowl trophies that he was a big part of − the strip-sack of Tom Brady going down as one of the most iconic plays in Eagles history.
Hurts held up five fingers on one hand, and one finger on the other to signify Graham's 15 years with the Eagles. Other players, coaches, family members also came up on the stage to hug BG and wish him well.
That included right tackle Lane Johnson, who's now (by far) the senior member on the Eagles. Johnson, drafted in the first round in 2013, and kicker Jake Elliott, signed in 2017, are now the only two Eagles left from that first Super Bowl championship team.
So yes, Hurts' presence on the stage was a sort of changing of the guard to a group led by him, Johnson, Jordan Mailata and A.J. Brown. And they are followed by a new generation of players of players drafted in the last four years in DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Nakobe Dean, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
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All of them mentored by Graham, Kelce and Cox, but in different ways.
Graham's way was resiliency and an unwavering positive attitude that Graham said resulted from his own trials and tribulations. From Graham, that began within a few years of being drafted in the first round in 2010, when injuries cost him most of his second season and led to a reserve role through much of his third season.
That was when Graham started hearing the term "bust," especially when longtime NFL players in safety Earl Thomas and edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul were drafted right after him. Graham has often admitted that he was going to be released in the summer of 2015 had Travis Long not torn his ACL.
"I had to work on that for real," Graham said about his positivity. "So I try to help them young boys in that because I know it stings sometimes hearing some of your guys, like media, talking about you, because that’s the job.
"I understand that, too. But some people just aren’t in that place. But now I understand. I don’t take offense to it. I just talk about it."
So Graham imparted his wisdom upon fellow edge rusher Nolan Smith through his difficult rookie year in 2023, to the point where Smith turned into a cornerstone with a team-high 4 sacks in the playoffs.
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Hurts, of course, is more reserved than Graham. Heck, everyone is more reserved than the gregarious Graham, who never met an opponent, teammate, coach or media member that he wouldn't trash talk.
But Hurts knows how to pick his spots. That became clear this past season when Hurts sacrificed his passing stats to make sure the Eagles were able to run the ball behind Saquon Barkley, all the while hearing the talk that he was a "game manager."
That is, until the Super Bowl, when Hurts and the Eagles buried the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22.
Graham showed plenty of resilience that day, too. His season, and most likely his career, was supposed to have ended when he tore his triceps muscle on Nov. 24 against the Rams. It was supposed to be a four-month recovery time. Graham made it back in 2 1/2 months to play in the Super Bowl.
Graham admitted Tuesday that he re-tore his triceps.
Graham showed plenty of resilience in the Eagles' first Super Bowl, too, with his strip-sack of Brady. In typical Graham fashion, he spread the credit around when asked about it Tuesday.
"I was just happy to be able to get him," Graham said. "But it was all of us − the person who took away (Brady's) first read. That’s the guy I need to thank because all that stuff worked together. It was a big moment in my career. That’s where I felt like things started to get even better from that point on.
"Somebody made that key play, and that’s all it takes. One big play in the game can cost you. And I’m happy we were able to get that."
As Graham continued, he went back to two years ago, when the Eagles lost the Super Bowl to the Chiefs 38-35 on a last-second field goal.
Graham didn't forget the dejection that night, either. He stayed on the field and watched the Chiefs celebrate. Hurts stayed on the field and watched the red and yellow confetti come down too. And that was Graham's parting advice to the younger players.
"As hard as that was, I wanted to run, I wanted to go straight to that locker room," Graham said. "But I went out there and I faced it. I think that’s what we all did; we all faced it. That’s why I felt like this (Super Bowl) moment that we just had was from that.
"If I can tell any kid, (it's that) any adversity you go through, don’t run. Just face it, and just know it’s going to be better, and you’re going to be better for it. And one day, you’re gonna look back and say, ‘Man, I’m glad I did that,’ because look at this moment. This moment came back, and we did what we were supposed to do."
Graham, of course, did it his way. That's why Hurts and several other teammates, coaches and family memebers were there. They all saw Graham's 15 seasons of positivity even through the most trying times.
And they all learned from it. Perhaps, then, it was only fitting that Graham wrapped up his opening statement by saluting the fans, then reciting the Eagles chant, before saying:
"BG out, baby!"
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Read his coverage of the Eagles’ championship season in “Flying High,” a new hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Eagles Jalen Hurts stepped into Brandon Graham's leadership void
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