PHILADELPHIA — Brandon Graham said he is done playing football, closing out a 16-season career spent entirely with the Philadelphia Eagles and ending an offseason of speculation about a 17th.
Graham, 38, made the announcement Tuesday morning from a stage at a Jefferson Health “Breakfast with the Birds” event in Philadelphia.
“I’m officially done,” Graham said. “Y’all hearing it from me first. But let me tell you this, they are in great hands.” He went on to name Jordan Davis as the man to get the defense going and said he could not wait for Jalen Hurts to “prove them haters wrong.”
It is the second time he has said goodbye. Graham first retired in March 2025, weeks after coming back from injury early to play in the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX win. That retirement lasted seven months: the Eagles, thin on the defensive interior while Jalen Carter was out, signed him after Week 7 of the 2025 season and moved him inside.
The comeback was modest, and the record settles a discrepancy in Tuesday’s coverage. Pro Football Reference credits Graham with nine games and three sacks in 2025; NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk put it at 10 games. Two of the sacks came in a Week 15 shutout of Las Vegas, and he finished with eight tackles on the season, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
His career line: 215 regular-season games, 79 1/2 sacks, 495 tackles, 23 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries, plus 13 postseason games and 5 1/2 playoff sacks. The 215 games and 16 seasons are the most by any player in franchise history, NFL.com reported, a mark he built after Philadelphia took him in the first round out of Michigan in 2010.
What kept the door open until now was a condition, not a hunch. Graham said at a PHLY Sports event last month that he would sign only before the regular season, not midseason as in 2025; Bleeding Green Nation described the condition as getting a full training camp. Camp opened and closed with Graham unsigned.
The roster explains most of it. General manager Howie Roseman traded for edge rusher Jonathan Greenard in the offseason and signed him to an extension worth nearly $100 million, and added Arnold Ebiketie and A.J. Epenesa as veteran depth, the Inquirer reported.
The unofficial depth chart the team posted for Week 1 shows how little room was left: Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith Jr. start at the two edge spots, Greenard is listed at both, and Ebiketie and Epenesa sit behind them, with Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Byron Young and Ty Robinson inside.
Roseman, asked about Graham in July, did not commit either way, the Inquirer reported.
“Communication between BG, the Eagles, and me has always been consistent,” Roseman said in July. “BG was the first draft pick I ever made as GM. … Last year, his ability to come back in and help us was huge for our football team. But again, those conversations we’ll keep private.”
Graham’s signature play remains the strip-sack of Tom Brady in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LII, which helped deliver the franchise its first Super Bowl. He won a second ring in February 2025.
Fans treated Tuesday less as a mourning than a running joke about whether “officially” means anything. A thread on r/eagles drew about 1,400 upvotes and comments along the lines of “Yeah sure whatever see you week 12.”
Graham is not leaving the building. He hosts the “Unblocked” podcast, whose account posted his farewell video Tuesday.
“It’s an adjustment for me, but it’s a great adjustment because it’s all about my kids and my family,” he said.
His last game was the Eagles’ wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers in January. Philadelphia opens the 2026 season against the Washington Commanders.
