No, he's not Earl Thomas, but Brandon Graham is a very good player
The Eagles are playing the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, and you know what that means.
Yet another round of bitching from the members of the Earl Thomas-could've-been-an-Eagle club.
Yes, the Eagles' decision to pass on the five-time Pro Bowl safety with the 13th pick in the 2010 draft and select Brandon Graham wasn't the organization's proudest moment.
Not because Graham hasn't developed into a very good player, but because Thomas arguably is the best safety in the league, a four-time first-team all-pro.
But let it go already, folks. In retrospect, their decision a year later to take Fireman Danny Watkins with the 23rd pick in the 2011 draft turned out to be a much more grievous error than passing on Thomas and taking Graham. Graham has developed into a solid edge-rusher. Watkins was just a flat-out bust who never had the heart for football.
The Eagles head up to Seattle with 25 sacks and rank fourth in the league in sacks per pass play. Graham has a team-high five of those sacks to go with a team-high 22 hurries.
In last week's big win over Matt Ryan and the Falcons, Graham had one sack and gift-wrapped another for linemate Connor Barwin.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz was effusive in his praise of Graham on Thursday morning.
"He's a good player,'' Schwartz said. "Not only is he a good player, but he plays with incredible effort. He plays with toughness. He's very conscientious. He doesn't make mistakes often, and when he does make one, he's quick to correct.
"He's also quick to take responsibility for plays he doesn't make or plays that he should make. He's a great teammate. He plays the game the way it should be played.
"I'll give him, in my mind, my greatest compliment: I wasn't a very good player, but if I played in the NFL, I hope I would've played like Brandon Graham.''