Brandon Graham

Brandon Graham is a defensive end whose career with the Philadelphia Eagles is defined in part by one play: a strip-sack of Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII. With the Eagles protecting a five-point lead late in the fourth quarter, Graham knocked the ball from Brady’s hand. Teammate Derek Barnett recovered it, and Philadelphia went on to beat the New England Patriots 41–33 on February 4, 2018, for the franchise’s first Super Bowl title.

Graham was born on April 3, 1988, in Detroit. He played football at Crockett Vocational Technical High School before joining the University of Michigan. At Michigan, he became a standout pass rusher and was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for the 2009 season. The Eagles selected him with the 13th overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft.

His first years in Philadelphia did not make him an immediate star. A knee injury cut short his rookie season, and his role changed as the Eagles changed coaches and defensive schemes. Graham nevertheless remained with the team and developed into a dependable edge defender. His ability to pressure quarterbacks mattered even in seasons when his sack totals did not place him among the league leaders.

The 2017 Eagles finished the regular season 13–3 and reached the Super Bowl under head coach Doug Pederson. Graham’s forced fumble against Brady became the decisive defensive moment of that championship run. It also gave a player who had spent eight seasons with Philadelphia a permanent place in the team’s history.

Graham earned his first Pro Bowl selection following the 2020 season. In Week 2 of the 2021 season, he tore his Achilles tendon in a game against the San Francisco 49ers. He returned the next year and recorded 11 sacks in 2022, his first NFL season with a double-digit sack total. Philadelphia reached another Super Bowl that season, losing 38–35 to the Kansas City Chiefs.

A triceps injury interrupted Graham’s 2024 season, but he returned for Super Bowl LIX in February 2025. The Eagles defeated Kansas City 40–22, giving him a second championship with the same franchise that drafted him. By then, Graham’s tenure had spanned multiple coaches, quarterbacks, and Eagles teams. The contrast between his injury-shortened rookie year and his return for another title game illustrates the length of his career, while the play against Brady remains its most widely remembered moment.