"I didn't like it in Philly at first" - Brandon Graham says strip-sack on Tom Brady turned him into an Eagles icon

Former NFL defensive end Brandon Graham had a tough road to becoming a Philadelphia Eagles legend. The franchise drafted him with the 13th overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft. Graham went on to win two Super Bowl championships with the Eagles before hanging up his cleats last month.

On Wednesday, Brandon Graham appeared on the 'New Heights' show with Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce. During the conversation, Graham talked about the difficulties of adjusting to the Philly lifestyle and crowd.

He then pointed out one iconic play that established him as an Eagles legend. It was the strip sack on retired NFL GOAT Tom Brady during the Super Bowl LII showdown. This play thrust Brandon Graham into the spotlight with the franchise.

"Well, stripping that ball on Tom Brady man," Graham said. "I didn't like it at Philly at first, man. I'm telling you, Philly fans were so tough man. And it just wasn't everything I wanted it to be. But, like you said, coming from Detroit, being a fighter, not knowing that, hey this is your first real adversity. How you're going to fight back?....

"I even still use that story today for the guys because man, once I really have my mindset of, hey Imma do it, It turned into something that I didn't even know it would turn into." (TS- 10:00 onwards)

The Philadelphia Eagles had a 38-33 lead over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. With just over two minutes left in the game, Tom Brady dropped back to make a pass from the pocket after the snap.

However, Brandon Graham had other plans for the 7x Super Bowl-winning quarterback. He strip-sacked Brady in the pocket, which led to a fumble. The Eagles capitalized on this mistake to run the clock further down.

Jake Elliott then scored a 41-yard field goal to secure the victory for his team and lift the Lombardi trophy. During his retirement speech, Brandon Graham dubbed this sack on Brady as the best play of his professional career.

"That's No.1," Graham said. "That's the No.1 play because it changed my career. That moment gave me confidence, and I just got better and better from there."

---

Jason Kelce believed Brandon Graham had a few years left before retirement

Jason Kelce announced his retirement ahead of the 2024 season. However, on his podcast last month, he stated that Graham had a few more seasons of play left in his tank.

Kelce believed that, after the Eagles' Super Bowl LIX victory over the Chiefs, Graham could have continued this success with the franchise for a couple of more seasons.

"He retired on Tuesday, and, you know, the press conference was very emotional. Listen, I've been talking to BG for a long time, and obviously, he made it known before the season that it was going to be his final year. But he was playing so good before his triceps injury. I was like, man, is he going to do it again?"

"And he still could-like, he could definitely still play. He rushed it (return from injury). He wanted to play in the Super Bowl really bad and ended up re-tearing his tricep in the Super Bowl."

Throughout his 15-season stint in the NFL, Brandon Graham played in 206 games while recording 126 tackles, 76.5 sacks, and 22 forced fumbles. He has a Hall of Fame-worthy career to look back on and reminisce about as he moves on to the next chapter of his life.