Graham feels great as things come full circle from low point

[time2rock]

Graham feels great as things come full circle from low point

 

There was a time earlier in his career when Brandon Graham didn’t hesitate to name the low point in his NFL journey.

"The low point was when Wash was here,” Graham said in 2015. "That was my low point.”

Jim Washburn was the Eagles’ defensive line coach in 2011 and part of 2012 before he was fired during the season. The gruff position coach had a grating personality and to put it simply, he and Graham didn’t get along. It was bad.

But eventually, years later, the old position coach and Graham cleared the air and buried the hatchet. That’s especially good news now because Graham is once again being coached by a Washburn. This offseason, as the Eagles split up their defensive line room into two parts, the overhang players are being coached by Jeremiah Washburn, Jim’s son.

That might seem awkward. But Graham claims it isn’t.

Graham and Jim Washburn had a nice chat several years ago when Graham accompanied Derek Barnett to Tennessee to work out with the former Eagles position coach. Ever since then, that weight has been lifted.

"We buried all that,” Graham said. "I know I was just young and immature at the time and he was tough. He was just tough. That’s why it wasn’t as nice for me, because it was tough. Tough time during that time when he was here, coming off the knee injury and people not believing in me in the city, thinking I was a bust and all this stuff. And even myself, thinking I was at that time, because it’s like, what have I done at that point? But we talked about it, we over it.”

This spring, the Eagles’ interior defensive linemen are being coached by DL coach Tracy Rocker, while their overhang players are in are a room with Washburn, who has the title of director of player personnel/senior defensive assistant. Washburn, who has a coaching and scouting background, joined the Eagles in 2019 and stayed on staff during the changeover from Doug Pederson to Nick Sirianni.

In the time Washburn has been working with the defensive line — which predates the DL room split this offseason — Eagles players have been overwhelmingly complimentary of him.

"For it to happen full circle like this, I’m happy the place that we are in because it’s no animosity towards how me and his dad was,” Graham said. "It’s all about trying to get better and let’s get this ring.”

It really has come full circle for Graham. Those moments in 2011 and 2012 were rough on him. It was long before he became a starter, a Super Bowl hero, a Pro Bowler.

Now, Graham is 34 and is the longest-tenured pro athlete in the City of Philadelphia. No one thought that would be the case during the Jim Washburn years.

Graham, by the way, is feeling really good at OTAs this spring. He has completely recovered from an Achilles tear that ended his 2021 season in Week 2. After working out with the Eagles’ staff all offseason, Graham said he feels "great” as he prepares to enter his 13th NFL season.

And just like the feud with Wash, that Achilles injury is in the past too.

"I feel like nothing ever happened,” Graham said. "For real.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-brandon-graham-feels-great-things-come-full-circle