Hampered by injuries, Graham eager to earn praise, not scorn

In case you missed it, Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday for the second time in 3 weeks. A day earlier, Pierre-Paul, who has 15 1/2 sacks in this, only his second season, was named to his first Pro Bowl.

I mention this, because, well, if you're an Eagles fan, you know why I'm mentioning it. Two Aprils ago, the Eagles could have had Pierre-Paul. They needed a pass rusher and traded up to the 13th spot in the first round to get one. Had their choice of three guys - Pierre-Paul, Brandon Graham and Derrick Morgan.

They opted for Graham. Two picks later, the Giants took Pierre-Paul.

Graham struggled as a rookie, then tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in mid-December. Ended up needing microfracture surgery, which is not a good thing for a 22-year-old edge-rusher to need.

He spent the first seven games of this season on the Eagles' physically unable to perform list before being added to the 53-man roster in early November. He has dressed for only four of eight games and has been used sparingly in those. His 2011 stats: four tackles, zero sacks, one hurry.

Considering how well Pierre-Paul is playing, it would be easy to rip Andy Reid and Howie Roseman right now for their decision to take Graham over him. Easy, but not fair.

Graham's knee injury was just rotten luck. If he didn't get hurt last year, maybe he would be an integral part of the Eagles' pass rush right now. Maybe he'd have double-digit sacks. Maybe he'd be going to the Pro Bowl, too.

Then again, maybe not. But because of the knee injury, we don't know yet whether the Eagles made a mistake when they took Graham over Pierre-Paul. If you want to rip them for reaching for Jaiquawn Jarrett in the second round last April and thinking he would be able to step in and start as a rookie, be my guest.

If you want to rip them for drafting a project cornerback (Curtis Marsh) in the third round, take your best shot.

If you want to rip them for wasting a third-round pick in 2010 on Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, have a go at it. But reserve judgment on Graham for a little while, until the knee is completely healed, until he has a chance to show us whether he can play.

"I knew it was going to really take a full year for me to start feeling really good; feeling back to normal," Graham said. "But I just wanted to get out there because of the team we had. You're a first-round guy. You want to get out there and you want to show what you're made of.

"But sometimes it takes patience. And that's what I've got to do. Be patient. Because I know what I can do. Next year, no more excuses. Gotta get it done."

While it's easy to say now that the Eagles should have taken Pierre-Paul over Graham, it wasn't so easy 20 months ago. Pierre-Paul was considered a freakish athlete with a huge ceiling. But many considered him a boom-or-bust guy.

He had played only 1 year at the University of South Florida after transferring from junior college.

"He had a lot of talent, but he had only done it 1 year," an AFC personnel man said. "And his background was real sketchy. We interviewed him at the combine and came away thinking that this guy was going to need a lot of help."

Mike Mayock, the NFL Network's respected draft analyst, had Pierre-Paul rated above Graham, but he understood why some teams, including the Eagles, had reservations.

"Pierre-Paul, to me, I thought, was worth the risk because it's one thing if you have freakish ability and you're a dog," Mayock said. "But this kid wasn't a dog. He had a great motor.

"I remember watching a tape of him against the University of Pittsburgh. He had a bad first half against Pitt. He played against a physical tight end who beat on him all day. And then, in the second half, I thought the kid learned from it and came back and had a heck of a half.

"My take on him was he had a really big upside, and because he had a good work ethic, he was going to end up being a really good football player."

And Graham?

"Brandon, to me, was a different kind of player. My comparison to him was [Steelers linebacker] LaMarr Woodley. Part of it was the Michigan uniform, I'm sure, and his body type. I thought he had a chance to be a consistent starting defensive end. Not with the same upside as Pierre-Paul, but I thought he could be a good player in this league.

"It's hard to ding the Eagles for taking him, because you couldn't predict that kind of injury. He didn't have an injury situation at Michigan. I think he still has a chance to be a good player for them if he can come back from the injury. He's got a good burst and he plays hard. He doesn't have the elite get-off and acceleration of a [Dwight] Freeney or any of those freakish guys.

"However, when you look at [Jason] Babin and what they're doing, he can be that kind of guy. Because he's got a good motor. He's got enough get-off and athleticism and quickness that he can be effective."

Graham can't wait for the offseason to train and prepare for next season. He has something to prove to himself and to the people who think the Eagles made a mistake in drafting him.

"I'm going to put it all in the bank, put all my money [hard work] in the bank in the offseason and it's going to show next year," he vowed.