Emmanuel Acho shares hilarious story about “favorite teammate” Brandon Graham as Eagles legend announces retirement

The Philadelphia Eagles lost one of their homegrown players today. Brandon Graham announced his retirement from the NFL after 15 seasons and two Super Bowls, becoming one of the greatest players in the franchise's history.

Graham's history with Philadelphia involves plenty of redemption. As a first-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft, he failed to meet expectations at the start of his career. However, he developed into a strong pass rusher for the Eagles, becoming the third player with the most sacks in history (76.5).

One of his former teammates is Emmanuel Acho, who became an NFL analyst for Fox Sports following his retirement. Acho shared an anecdote from the 2014 NFL Draft when Graham's job was in jeopardy after a poor few seasons:

"I gotta share this Brandon Graham story. We were at Del Frisco's watching the NFL draft. There were murmurs that Philadelphia was going to move on from BG. So, they ended up drafting in the first round a player named Marcus Smith. He's a pass rusher. So now we're all sitting there at Del Frisco's, and I'm looking at BG like "Uh-oh, did they just draft a replacement?"

Emmanuel Acho turns to say how the defender's reaction surprised him. He wasn't bothered by a possible replacement - instead, he worked hard to become a productive player for the Philadelphia Eagles.

"BG's chilling. He's like "Look, what's for me is for me". Well, little did we know what would be for Graham would be 82 sacks, another 10, 11 years in Philadelphia, three Super Bowl appearances and two Super Bowl wins. You're one of the best teammates I've ever played with."

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Who will replace Brandon Graham for the Philadelphia Eagles?

The franchise already has two strong defensive ends who had an excellent finish to the 2024 season lined up. 2023's first-round pick Nolan Smith and second-year EDGE Jalyx Hunt will likely become the starters for Philadelphia in 2025.

The team also has Bryce Huff under contract after he signed a three-year, $51 million contract in 2024. However, the Eagles are unhappy with his production and he is reportedly available for a trade.

Along with Brandon Graham, Philadelphia also lost star edge rusher Josh Sweat to free agency, as he signed a long-term deal with the Arizona Cardinals.