Brandon Graham - Pro Football Rumors

Eagles Host DL Cedric Thornton

May 16th, 2018 at 6:23pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Eagles recently hosted free agent defensive lineman Cedric Thornton for a workout, according to Geoff Mosher of 97.5 The Fanatic (Twitter link).

Thornton is no stranger to Philadelphia, as he signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Southern Arkansas in 2012. Thornton, now 29, went on to start 45 games for the Birds, and was extremely effective after the Eagles shifted to a 3-4 scheme under Chip Kelly in 2014. As an oversized defensive end, Thornton especially excelled against the run.

Thornton signed a four-year deal with the division-rival Cowboys in 2016, but made it only one season in Dallas before being released. He quickly resurfaced with Bills on a single-season pact, and ultimately appeared in 15 games and made three starts for Buffalo. During that time, Thornton posted 18 tackles and two sacks, but graded as the fifth-worst interior defender among 122 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus.

Now that the Eagles are running a 4-3 front, Thornton would likely line up at defensive tackle if signed. Philadelphia is on the hunt for depth given that starting tackle Timmy Jernigan is expected to miss four-to-six months following back surgery, while defensive ends Derek Barnett and Brandon Graham (who recently underwent a minor ankle operation, per Tim McManus of ESPN.com) are also recovering from surgery. The Eagles have also looked at other free agent defenders in recent weeks, as they expressed interest in Terrell McClain before he signed with the Falcons and met with Courtney Upshaw.

NFC East Notes: Eagles, Graham, Redskins

February 16th, 2018 at 12:02pm CST by Zachary Links

Eagles linebacker/defensive end Brandon Graham is ready to cash in after turning in the best season of his career. The 29-year-old (30 in April) has one more season to go on his contract, but he’s looking for an extension that will reflect his performance.

“For me, it’s all about getting as much as you can while you can play because when it’s over, it’s over,” he said (via Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia). “I know Howie [Roseman] and those guys, if they want me here, they’re going to make sure that they get me here. For me, I want to be here. Everybody knows I want to be here. They see the passion I have and I’m happy to be able to bring the trophy back to Philly…Now, it’s just all about just making sense, just getting me protected for the future. Because obviously I want to retire here and I know I’m going to retire here because I’ve been here a long time. I would love to retire here. It’s all on what they want to do. I’m just going to embrace it, whatever it is.”

In 2017, Graham racked up a career high 9.5 sacks to go along with 47 total tackles. He also graded out as the eighth-best edge defender in the NFL with a 91.6 overall score from Pro Football Focus, nearly matching his 93.9 grade from 2016.

Last year, the Eagles rewarded Graham with an extra $1.5MM in incentives for the final two years of his deal as a showing of good faith. This time around, Graham is looking for something more substantial as he enters the final year of his pact. As it stands, Graham is set to carry an $8MM cap number in 2018, which ranks just 13th amongst 4-3 DEs in the NFL.

Here’s more from the NFC East:

Here’s a crazy scenario raised by Mike Florio of PFT: If Kirk Cousins is franchise tagged and signs the tender before March 14, Florio wonders aloud if the Redskins could back out of the Alex Smith trade. Cousins signing the tender would trigger a one-year, $34.47MM contract and it’s hard to see a team giving up a lot in a trade for a player who is only under contract for one year at that exorbitant price. As we learned on Thursday, Cousins could also fight a franchise tag by filing a grievance against Washington. Redskins president Bruce Allen is apparently thinking about going the petty route, but that could wind up backfiring. Ultimately, the best move the Redskins could make would be to do nothing and allow Cousins to hit the open market.
Many teams will consider parting with high-priced veterans this offseason, but the Redskins appear to have no real cap casualty candidates, as Rich Tandler of NBC Sports Washington writes. The Redskins, with roughly $31MM in cap space after factoring in Smith’s contract, don’t have much flexibility snce nearly all of their expensive players are necessary. The only potential cut would be defensive lineman Terrell McClain, who is set to carry a $4.7MM cap number in 2018. However, the Redskins wouldn’t save much by dropping him. Cutting tight end Jordan Reed, who has a $10.1MM cap hit, would only save the team $4.7MM when considering the dead money hit, so it seems likely that the team will hold on to him and see if he can stay healthy.
The Giants announced that they’ll keep multiple coaches from the previous staff.

NFC East Notes: Redskins, Cousins, Cowboys

November 28th, 2017 at 4:39pm CST by Zachary Links

The Redskins are reportedly no longer considering the $28.8MM transition tag for Kirk Cousins in 2018. Instead, Washington wants to evaluate the quarterback down the stretch of the season to determine whether it wants to use the $34.5MM franchise tag on him, sign him to a long-term deal, or allow him to test free agency unencumbered. That’s just fine with Cousins.

“You know, I can understand the unique situation that it is, and you’re trying to find value in every player at every position,” Cousins told 106.7 The Fan (transcription via Chris Lingebach of CBS DC). “If you still need five more games, or five-plus, to make a decision, so be it, but I’d like to think that I’ve played a lot of football here. I’ve been here six years and I think the people in the building have gotten to know me, who I am as a man, who I am as a football player, what I’m about and who I’m gonna be going forward and I’d like to think they can make an informed decision regardless. But if they need five more games, so be it, but I understand the need to find value and understand what you’re getting.”

At 5-6, the Redskins have just a 6.7% chance of reaching the postseason, per Football Outsiders, but there is still plenty riding on these final games.

Here’s more from the NFC East:

Recently, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones indicated that he was backing down from his lawsuit threat against the NFL because the league promised to “get input from all the owners” on Roger Goodell‘s new deal, rather than leaving it up to just the Compensation Committee. No such deal has been made, however, according to NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart. Lockhart reiterated that the six-man committee has the sole power to approve an extension for the commissioner (link via PFT).
Redskins coach Jay Gruden says defensive lineman Jonathan Allen remains on course for returning from injured reserve this season (link via ESPN.com’s John Keim). Allen, who has missed the bulk of the season with a Lisfranc injury, can be activated off IR for the Week 15 game against the Cardinals.
Eagles defensive Brandon Graham registered his seventh sack of the season on Sunday and that triggered a $250K incentive in his 2017 contract, as Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. By hitting that milestone, he also boosted his 2018 salary by $250K.
On Tuesday, the Giants announced that Eli Manning will be benched this week in favor of Geno Smith.

Eagles Working On Brandon Graham Extension

November 26th, 2017 at 10:01am CST by Rory Parks

The Eagles are working on a new deal for defensive end Brandon Graham, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. Graham has racked up six sacks this season — his career-high is 6.5 — and he currently ranks as the fifth-best edge defender in the league (out of 112 qualified players) per Pro Football Focus.

Graham is still under club control through 2018 as a result of the four-year, $26.5MM deal he inked in 2015, a deal that looks like a bargain now. Despite some rumblings that he would hold out of training camp this summer, he never did so and firmly indicated that he never planned to hold out. Nonetheless, the Eagles did add incentives to his current deal in August and now it seems they are prepared to reward him even more.

Philadelphia, of course, is 9-1 and is on the short list of Super Bowl favorites. The team also has a history of being aggressive in locking up key members of its roster, even late in the season (the Eagles signed Timmy Jernigan to a lucrative multi-year deal several weeks ago).

As La Canfora notes, Graham is something of a late-bloomer, but he has thrived under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and his impact goes far beyond his raw sack totals. He is a key cog in the club’s defensive success, and GM Howie Roseman is ready to pay him accordingly. La Canfora does say that the two sides have a fairly large gap to bridge, but the team’s interest in getting something done soon is genuine.

Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com (Twitter link) says that if Graham and the Eagles can agree to terms, his extension would likely lower his cap hit for 2018 (currently $7.5MM) to free up some space. After all, as Shorr-Parks observes in a separate piece, the cap hits for Jernigan’s new contract are out, and they are significant.

Eagles Amend Brandon Graham’s Deal

August 9th, 2017 at 5:58pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Although Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham is underpaid relative to his production, he elected not to hold out this year. Now, the Eagles have given him an opportunity to rake in more money on his current deal, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. Graham, who’s halfway through the four-year, $26.5MM contract he signed with the Eagles in 2015, will have a chance to earn $1.5MM in incentives over the next two seasons.

On top of his $6.5MM base salary this year, Graham will make $250K if he tallies more than seven but fewer than nine sacks. Exceeding nine sacks would mean an additional $250K for Graham. However, even if Graham totals fewer than nine sacks, he’ll pile up $250K with either a Pro Bowl trip on the original ballot or first- or second-team All-Pro honors.

Graham went second-team All-Pro last season, but it’s worth noting that the 29-year-old has never hit the seven-sack mark in an individual campaign. His personal best (6.5) came in 2015. But getting to seven or eight sacks in 2017 would increase his $6.5MM base salary for 2018 by $250K, while nine to 11 would bump it up by $500K. Twelve or more, which could be especially unrealistic for a player who combined for that many from 2015-16, would give him a $750K raise. A Pro Bowl nod shouldn’t be out of reach, however, and earning a trip this season would up Graham’s ’18 salary by $250K.

A seven-year veteran, Graham is fresh off the first 16-start campaign of his career, and while his traditional numbers were solid in 2016 and in the preceding years, he has stood out more in the eyes of the advanced stats crowd. Graham ranked as Pro Football Focus’ second-best edge defender among 110 qualifiers last year, and the outlet has typically assigned him excellent grades.

Eagles’ Brandon Graham: I Won’t Hold Out

May 16th, 2017 at 1:51pm CST by Zachary Links

On Tuesday, Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham reported to the Eagles’ facility amidst rumblings that he was considering some type of holdout. Moments ago, he took to Twitter to further clear the air.

“[I’m] back in Philly and I just wanted to clear up a few things for all of our fans. I was never holding out. I was in Detroit last week spending some time with my family. I love playing in Philly, I love our fans and I love this organization. I’ve never had an issue with my contract. I don’t know where that news came from. I will be here at OTAs leading the charge and ready to get things started,” Graham wrote.

That’s about as firm of a denial as you can get and it comes on the heels of him telling a Philadelphia sports radio host that word of a holdout was “fake news.” As I explained earlier today, Graham’s deal is a heck of a bargain for the Eagles given the way he has played over the last two years, but he has made it clear that he will not stay away from practices this summer in an effort to pressure the team into giving him a new deal.

Graham’s current contract calls for him to carry a $7.5MM cap number in each of the next two seasons.

Brandon Graham Reports To Eagles

May 16th, 2017 at 9:42am CST by Zachary Links

It doesn’t sound like Brandon Graham is planning a holdout this offseason. The Eagles defensive end reported to the team facility this morning, as Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com writes. He also spoke with Howard Eskin of 94WIP on Tuesday and referred to rumors of a holdout as “fake news.”

Graham is in the middle of a four-year, $26MM contract signed with the Eagles in 2015. In the last two years and particularly in 2016, he has outperformed his deal. Graham would probably like to be paid near the top of the DE market, but he doesn’t have a ton of leverage in that regard since he still has two years to go on his pact. A holdout, in theory, could put some pressure on the team, but the 29-year-old seems prepared to play out 2017 with a cap number of $7.5MM.

As Shorr-Parks notes, the additions of first round pick Derek Barnett and free agent Chris Long could impact Graham’s stat line which, in turn, could impact his bottom line. The advanced metrics portrayed Graham as one of the best edge defenders in the entire league last season, but he only had 5.5 sacks on the year. If his snap count goes down, his sack total might also sag. Without gaudy totals on his traditional stat sheet, he might not have enough juice to get a big extension next offseason.

Extra Points: Beane, Lions, Eagles, Saints

May 12th, 2017 at 10:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

As reports indicated earlier this week, new Bills GM Brandon Beane will indeed have control over the 53-man roster. Terry Pegula confirmed as much Friday. “Brandon’s gonna have the 53,” the owner said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “Him and Sean (McDermott) will obviously collaborate on any decisions.” The 39-year-old first-time GM, though, plans to work extensively alongside McDermott, with whom he obviously functioned alongside with the Panthers.

“It’s going to be similar to what Sean and I had in Carolina. There’s no czar here, every decision is going to be collaborative,” Beane said, via WGRZ.com. “The unique thing Sean and I had was a respect, I knew his roots and how he worked his way up.”

Beane and McDermott have worked together since 2011, save for a near-four-month period when McDermott took the Bills job and Beane stayed in Charlotte. The former Panthers assistant GM will still have the final say, even though the new Bills HC arrived in Buffalo first.

Here’s more from Buffalo and the latest from around the league.

A slew of Bills free agency moves shouldn’t be expected, Beane said today, per Joe Buscaglia of WKBW (on Twitter). In a statement not exactly contrary to most new GMs’ philosophies, Beane plans to build the Bills through the draft (Twitter link, via Buscaglia).
The Lions announced a handful of new titles in their front office following Brian Xanders‘ departure. Among them: Kyle O’Brien now has the title of Vice President of Player Personnel and Lance Newmark is now Director of Player Personnel (Twitter link via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com).
Doug Pederson isn’t worried about a potential holdout from Brandon Graham, the Eagles coach said today, per Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com (on Twitter). A report earlier this week linked the burgeoning-star edge defender to a holdout. Graham is signed to a four-year deal worth $26.5MM. He’s set to carry cap numbers of $7.5MM apiece in 2017 and ’18. The 29-year-old ranked as the No. 2 overall edge defender in the opinion of Pro Football Focus last season. Among 4-3 defensive ends, Graham’s deal places him just 16th in terms of average annual value. Less accomplished teammate Vinny Curry is making nearly $3MM per year more than Graham due to his 2016 extension.
The Saints invited some familiar names to their rookie minicamp/tryout venue today. Former Jets, Bills and Falcons passer Matt Simms received an invite, as did former Raiders and Buccaneers wideout Louis Murphy and veteran tight end Clay Harbor (all Twitter links via Nick Underhill of The Advocate). Murphy spent the past two seasons with the Bucs but saw injuries limit him to just six games.

Zach Links contributed to this report.

Eagles’ Brandon Graham Planning Holdout?

May 10th, 2017 at 2:04pm CST by Zachary Links

Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham is expected to skip organized team activities later this month and might even abstain from mandatory minicamp in June unless the Eagles renegotiate his contract, two NFL sources tell Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Meanwhile, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link) hears that there is no contract dispute between Graham and the team.

Graham, 29, is midway through a four-year, $26MM deal signed with Philly in 2015. He’s scheduled to carry cap numbers of $7.5MM in each of the next two seasons, but he apparently wants more dollars and/or more years. As it stands, the Eagles would only have to carry $1MM in dead money if they were to release him after the 2017 season, so he’s likely looking for some form of increased security.

Last year, Graham finished out with 5.5 sacks, but he had a much better season than the standard numbers would suggest. Pro Football Focus rated Graham as the No. 2 edge defender in the NFL last season with a stellar 93.3 overall score and he was edged only by Raiders star Khalil Mack. In the two years prior, PFF cast him as a top 15 or 20 edge rusher in the league, so Graham has a history of producing at a high level. Still, with two years to go on his current deal, he won’t have a ton of leverage in talks unless he stays away from the team this summer.

Giants Notes: Graham, McAdoo, Free Agents

November 5th, 2016 at 10:00am CST by Ben Levine

During the 2015 offseason, defensive end Brandon Graham received interest from the Giants. As the 28-year-old Eagles lineman prepares to play New York this weekend, he understands that he made the correct decision to stick with the team that drafted him.

“It was real,” Graham said of the Giants interest (via Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com). “I wasn’t that close. I wanted the Eagles here to get it right, as far as keeping me here. Obviously I made the right decision. I couldn’t be cool with myself going somewhere where I play the Eagles twice a year. I would have had to go outside the division.”

Graham ultimately inked a four-year, $26MM contract ($13MM) to remain in Philadelphia, and the former first-rounded has rewarded his team with 25 tackles, four sacks, and two forced fumbles this season.

Let’s take a look at some more notes out of MetLife Stadium…

The Giants continue to deny rumors that they had discussions with Alabama’s Nick Saban to become their next head coach. George Willis of The New York Post believes we still haven’t seen enough from Ben McAdoo to determine whether he’s the right man for the job. However, if the Giants continue to collect losses, the writer believes the team could revisit their talks with Saban this offseason.
According to Hall of Fame boxing promoter Bob Arum, it was Saban’s wife who didn’t want to leave Alabama for the Big Apple. Had his wife decided to make the move to New York, Willis wonders if Saban would currently be coaching the Giants.
NJ.com previews the Giants players who are playing for a new contract. Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul leads the list, and he’s joined by defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins, linebacker Keenan Robinson, right guard John Jerry, linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, and tight end Larry Donnell.