Brandon Graham’s goal for his 10th NFL season: Reach double-digit sacks for first time

Brandon Graham is entering his 10th NFL season and just signed his third contract with the Eagles. By this point in a career, it’s usually clear what a player can do.

Yet Graham is determined to do something he hasn’t done since he first played defensive end for the Eagles in 2010 -- reach 10 sacks in a season.

“Tenth year, and I’m trying to crack the double digits on the sacks,” Graham said. “That’s always been the goal, but I feel really good about achieving that.”

Ten sacks for a pass rusher is like 1,000 rushing yards for a running back or 1,000 receiving yards for a pass-catcher — a round number that’s as much a barrier as an achievement. There’s a certain status that comes with being a double-digit sack producer, quantifiable evidence of a player’s pass-rushing prowess.

Graham has been lauded the last four or five seasons, when he finally bloomed into the player the Eagles expected when they traded up in the first round to pick him. It’s why they signed him to a second contract in 2016 and extended it last winter, even though he’s 31.

“He’s kind of the heart and soul of this football team,” coach Doug Pederson said. “With his energy every single day and what he brings to the defense, what he brings from a leadership standpoint to our team, it’s pretty impressive that he’s played this long. Really, to me, he can go several more years. I really do believe that.”

Graham doesn’t need a boost in the eyes of Eagles fans -- his strip-sack of Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII is the most famous defensive play in franchise history. But Graham is not viewed as a top pass rusher in the NFL. He’s never been voted to the Pro Bowl, even though he was named second-team All-Pro in 2016. The sack total is a big reason.

He’s been close. In 2017, Graham finished with 9.5 sacks. He brings up a play in the 49ers game that season when he beat the right tackle around the edge and pulled quarterback C.J. Beathard to the ground.

Graham grasped Beathard’s front collar, though, and was flagged for a personal foul. The penalty negated the sack, even though Graham had a clean shot at the quarterback.

“They give me that one, and it’s 10.5,” Graham said. “It’s cool, though. I feel like I always need to have something that’s a chip on my shoulder, and I feel like that’s another chip, because people don’t think I can get it.”

Graham wouldn’t be the first pass rusher to reach double-digit sacks so late in his career. Mike Vrabel’s career-high 12.5 sacks with the Patriots came in his 11th season. The Jets’ Calvin Pace had his only double-digit sack season in his 11th year. Jacksonville’s Calais Campbell didn’t hit that mark until he was a 10-year veteran. Same with the Cowboys’ Greg Ellis.

The Eagles will need a big year from Graham. They lost 17.5 sacks from last season with the trade of Michael Bennett and the retirement of Chris Long. They’re expecting more production from Derek Barnett, who will start opposite Graham at right defensive end after an injury-shortened campaign, and Vinny Curry, who was signed this offseason.

Josh Sweat and Shareef Miller are competing for the fourth defensive-end spot.

But the most established edge rusher is Graham, and the Eagles will need him to produce.

Graham is bullish on the possibilities this season. He’s healthy, which wasn’t the case for much of last year, after he underwent ankle surgery. And he thinks the pressure generated from the inside by tackles Fletcher Cox and offseason addition Malik Jackson will help him on the edge.

As stout as Graham is against the run and pressuring the quarterback, he knows he needs sacks to achieve career benchmarks. Graham’s most recent contract was a three-year deal, and “my goal is to finish out this contract and be a three-time Pro Bowler,” he said. That will be difficult to do without double digits in sacks.

“This year, double-digit year,” Graham said. “That’s my goal. Going to let them know I still got a lot in the tank.”