Brandon Graham Update
Posted: April 14th, 2012 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 66 Comments »Let’s start with an interesting report from Tim McManus (wait…was he the guy on Oz?). He posted on Twitter yesterday a couple of updates on Brandon Graham:
Am told that Brandon Graham has lost weight, is cut and area around the knee is stronger. Also had laser eye surgery to repair vision.
More on Graham: His trainer says he dropped 20-plus pounds, has regained agility and speed while adding strength. Heading to Philly Sunday.
Sounds good, huh? Let’s talk about the weight situation. I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth going over again. Graham went to Michigan as a LB. He showed up at 300 pounds. That immediately got him moved to DL. I guess Graham celebrated graduating HS the same way I did…cheap beer, buying Whoppers 2 at a time, and mixing in the regular pizza buffet.
Graham worked his tail off at Michigan. He became an elite player. He dominated the Senior Bowl. He had a very good showing at the Combine. Life was good. After tearing his ACL…things went south. Graham admitted in an interview that he got out of hand with eating cheesesteaks. He guessed at getting up to 290. I heard that he officially weighed in at one point at 287 pounds. Liking to eat and having a surgically repaired leg that limits your workout options is not a good combination.
Luckily, Graham’s knee is healed. He’s now back in workout mode. I’m sure some doubt that he’s “cut”. I can buy that. Graham is ultra-competitive. He knows this year could send his career one of two ways. In a weird way, JPP is also helping things. Graham has to hear and read all over about how it sucks we took him over JPP. That seems to have fueled him to get back to his old self. If that motivates him, great.
While I have no doubts about Graham being in shape, I will admit that I’m hesitant in regard to his knee. It has healed in the surgical sense, but I want to see BG on the move with my own eyes before I start thinking he’s all the way back. Microfracture surgery is no joke. Keep your fingers crossed, for BG’s sake and ours.
Brandon Graham can still be a very good DE. The Wide-9 is a big help, as well. By lining up out wide, there is more of a straight line to the QB. That takes pressure off the ACL. There is no hard cut to make. There is a natural rush angle. The ACL doesn’t affect speed or quickness. It affects agility and cutting.
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What is Luke Kuechly’s value? ILBs in general? Looked into that over at ScoutsNotebook.
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For SB Nation Philly, I wrote about some players I want the Eagles to avoid. Let me know who you don’t want.
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More on the report about the Eagles and Rams looking into trading up. Sam offered an interesting idea on Twitter last night. What if the Eagles dealt DRC and pick 15 to the Browns so we could get Morris Claiborne. I would do that deal. I really like Claiborne.
Many of you wondered about the Rams moving up when they started off at #2. The Skins gave them a great deal to move back. Mike Holmgren publicly claimed that the Browns had a similar offer in place, but Jeff Fisher passed on it. Maybe. Fisher is good friends with Mike Shanahan. He could have turned down Holmgren for his buddy. Still, this is business. You go with the best offer. I tend to think the Browns made an offer, but were more value oriented than the Skins.
If the Rams do move up, it is for Trent Richardson. He is the best RB prospect since Adrian Peterson. He can be a special player. The Rams can get a RB in the 2nd round, but they can’t get Trent Richardson. If they really covet him, I could see them moving up.
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Football Outsiders has a report up about missed tackles. And an Eagle led the league. Jarrad Page? No. Shady McCoy. This is for offensive players. They actually are talking about broken tackles, but that would have ruined my brilliant joke. Shady was pretty amazing last year at getting away from defenders when they seemingly had him dead to rights. To be fair, if you take out the 2 Dallas games, Shady would have probably only ranked 37th. Thank you Rob Ryan.
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Off-topic
I know many of you are movie fans. Check out this amazing video about the restoration of Jaws. Runs about 8 minutes, but it is a great watch. Really interesting to see the actual film canisters with the original negative and how they digitally erase scratches and adjust colors. The technology is mind blowing.
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