On the verge of his 181st game as an Eagle, Brandon Graham is embracing the ‘sweet road’

Defensive end Brandon Graham bears a bit more gray in his beard now than he did as a rookie in 2010. But in his 14th season, he still derives joy on a daily basis from the same activity that brought him happiness at 22 years old.

“Just whooping on people every day,” Graham, 35, said Friday at his locker with a smile.

“Even my teammates, I’m talking stuff to them like I’m getting ready for the game. So it’s just all about having fun and letting them boys know and still being able to do it, because if I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be talking as much as I am.”

Graham’s trademark trash talk and competitive flair undoubtedly will make appearances on Monday night in a milestone matchup. When Graham takes the field on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he will have played 181 career regular-season games, all in an Eagles uniform.

That accomplishment will move him into third place on the team’s all-time list, trailing only Hall of Fame defensive back Brian Dawkins (183 from 1996-2008) and kicker David Akers (188, 1999-2010). Graham tied wide receiver Harold Carmichael (180, 1971-83), another Hall of Famer, in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings.

In a league where the average player’s career lasts 3.3 years, according to the NFLPA in 2016, Graham has achieved longevity.

“I think it’s just more about taking care of yourself, treating people right in the building, being a great teammate, being able to have those hard conversations as a leader on this team, and just having fun,” Graham said. “I mean, I just try to bring it every day. I just try to make sure I don’t take it for granted.”

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But it hasn’t been a “sweet road,” as Graham put it, for the entirety of his Eagles career. In his first six years, Graham dealt with injuries and struggled to carve out a full-time starting role. When Doug Pederson took over as head coach in 2016 and Jim Schwartz assumed the position of defensive coordinator, Graham moved from linebacker to defensive end in their 4-3 base scheme.

That switch, coupled with Schwartz’s defense, marked a turning point for Graham that culminated with the Super Bowl LII victory in the 2017 season. The road since then, which has led him to Game No. 181, has been much sweeter.

“It just sprung me into life,” Graham said. “Even now, the way we rush, the way we do stuff, it’s still some of those same principles that we had in those schemes. We still apply them here even though it’s a 3-4. We’re still getting off the ball, we’re still playing to a lot of our strengths.”

On Sept. 8, coach Nick Sirianni attended the premiere of center Jason Kelce’s documentary Kelce at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia a few days before Amazon released it to the masses. His wife, Brett, and son, Jacob, accompanied him on the red carpet before the screening and watch the film.

Just moments into the premiere, Sirianni found himself getting emotional.

“When I was crying in the first five minutes of it, I knew ... I’m like ‘Oh, goodness,’” Sirianni said. “I looked at my wife and I had tears in my eyes and I go, ‘It’s only been five minutes.’”

Sirianni said that Jacob enjoyed the documentary just as much as he did. The duo has watched a variety of other sports documentaries together, including The Last Dance on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls and the Quarterback series on Patrick Mahomes, Marcus Mariota, and Kirk Cousins last season, both of which are streaming on Netflix.

“There was a part that was happening and I was sitting here, my wife was sitting here, and my son, Jacob, was sitting here,” Sirianni said. “Jacob leaned over to my wife and he goes, ‘Daddy?’ I go, ‘Yeah, buddy?’ He goes, ‘This is probably the best movie I’ve ever seen.’”

For Sirianni, exposing Jacob to different sports documentaries is about more than just entertainment.

“The same types of things I show our players I want him to see,” Sirianni said. “How many good lessons are in that?”

Perhaps Jacob enjoyed the documentary for its plethora of curse words?

“Hey,” Sirianni said with a laugh. “He’s growing up in Philadelphia.”

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On Monday, safety Justin Evans will return to the place where his NFL career started.

Evans, who signed with the Eagles as a free agent in March, was selected by the Buccaneers in the second round, No. 50 overall, in 2017 out of Texas A&M. He played the first two seasons of his career for the Bucs (24 games, 21 starts, 125 tackles, four interceptions, and eight pass breakups).

The end of his tenure in Tampa, however, was riddled with injury, eventually leading to his release in December 2020. Evans doesn’t feel nostalgic when playing in Raymond James Stadium or facing off against the Bucs, but he said he’ll always have a soft spot for the city.

“It was where I got drafted, where I started my new, to me, what I call it, my new life,” Evans said. “On my own, for real. Wasn’t no college student no more. Kind of felt like a grown man, in a sense. I’m really on my own now, it’s what I felt like. So it was just a great experience. I love Tampa.”

The Eagles visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest story lines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Tampa, Fla.