Murphy: Eagles' new defense suits Brandon Graham

BRANDON GRAHAM might be the happiest guy in the Eagles' locker room. That's been the case ever since Andy Reid made him the No. 13 pick in the 2010 draft. Doesn't matter who you are - teammate, locker-room staffer, media member - he'll greet you with a smile or a fist bump or a hand on the shoulder. He brings the same energy to the field, and when you put it all together, it's kind of a shame that, up until now, he's been known mostly as the guy who wasn't Earl Thomas or Jason Pierre-Paul or Devin McCourty.

This might be the year that changes, thanks in large part to the fact that he finally has a legitimate NFL defensive coordinator who understands how to use him. On a defense that has been nothing short of dominant in its first three games, Graham has been every bit the playmaker as some of his more heralded teammates.

Like most of them, Graham is reluctant to spend much time discussing the schematic shortcomings of the previous three seasons, but there might not be an Eagle who was more out of place in Billy Davis' 3-4 front. Heading into last season, Graham had started only 13 games, recording 17 sacks, eight forced fumbles, and 99 tackles. In Davis' scheme, he was forced to play outside linebacker, which took away one of his greatest assets as an athlete, the compact leverage and power he creates while playing close to the ground.

"In the 3-4, it was like a delay," Graham said. "I didn't get off as fast as I get off right now. Right now, my whole mindset is going forward. I don't have to think about too much. I think it opens up my bull-rush, because a lot of people respect my speed, and going from speed to power, if you get 'em up and get 'em bailing a little bit, it's kind of my advantage."

You can see it the way he bursts off the line at each snap, such as his sack of Ben Roethlisberger in the Week 3 blowout of the Steelers that forced all of us to start taking the Eagles seriously. Lined up wide, he sped around right tackle Marcus Gilbert to get the quarterback at the top of his drop. It was the third straight game in which Graham recorded a sack, bringing him almost halfway to his career high of 6 1/2, set last season.

Yet it is the unquantifiable plays that mask his true value. On the Steelers' second drive, they faced a third-and-5 at their own 27-yard line. At the snap, Graham exploded off the line as if he was going to bull-rush Gilbert, then accelerated to the outside, forcing Roethlisberger to move his feet and turn his body and slide into traffic, successfully disrupting his rhythm and forcing a poor throw. On Fletcher Cox's 9-yard sack in the second quarter, Graham was right there with him, knocking Gilbert backward with a bull-rush to help collapse the right side of the pocket onto Roethlisberger's shoulders like an unexpected wave.

"I think the scheme is helping him a lot," safety Malcolm Jenkins said. "They've taken a lot off his plate, whereas last year he had to drop back into coverage a little bit, and he was still able to get pressure, but now he is able to put his hand on the ground, pin his ears back, and attack. He's one of our best d-linemen who can do that, talking about coming off the edge. He's powerful, he's got moves, his bull-rush is probably the best on our team. He's being productive week in and week out. I think the system allowing him to use his skill set to the best of his ability has been paying off."

With Graham, the conversation always turns to that 2010 draft, when the Eagles selected Graham the pick before the Seahawks selected Thomas, who would serve as the cornerstone of the team's dominant Legion of Boom secondary. Other players to go in the first round after the Eagles selected Graham: guard Mike Iupati, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, safety McCourty, and defensive end Pierre-Paul, all of whom have made at least one All-Pro team. And then there were the players whom Graham was effectively traded for when the Eagles moved up from No. 24, sending a couple of third-round picks to the Broncos. The Cowboys wound up with the No. 24 pick, which they used on wide receiver Dez Bryant. One of the third-round picks turned into wide receiver Eric Decker.

But Graham's inability to place himself among those names has been mostly a case of circumstance. Under Reid, he was a member of a bizarre chain of command in which defensive line coach Jim Washburn ran his wide-nine scheme independent of Juan Castillo, the converted offensive line coach whom Reid moved to defensive coordinator.

"The message couldn't be echoed as much, as far as, Schwartz is the head man, this is how we run it, he teaches every coach, and every coach teaches it to their players," Graham said, referring to coordinator Jim Schwartz. "I think it was different when coach Reid and those guys were here, it wasn't like we had a d-coordinator who had this system. It was pretty much the d-coordinator was learning how to run the system because the d-line was going to do what we do in this system. But you need to know what the back end is going to do and how everything matches up."

The difference is obvious.

"It's nothing near the wide-nine that you had seen in NFL history," Jenkins said. "He's got guys that are playing outside, but they're crashing down, they're aggressive, they're not running around blocks. They're running through people. That's a lot different for a safety if I have to defend a gap that's only as wide as me. If I'm defending a gap that's five people wide, that's tough."

Thus far, the gaps have been almost nonexistent. Except for the one on Graham's face, that is. These days, the smile's as big as ever.

@ByDavidMurphy