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There was a time not too long ago when Brandon Graham was considered a terrible draft pick. He even called himself a “bust” during his second year in the league following a spate of unfortunate injuries and poor play. Then, he took the negative and turned it into a positive.
Graham played in his 155th career game last week (tied with Trent Cole for most by an Eagles defensive lineman) and ranks fourth all-time in sacks (58) for the franchise. His seven sacks lead the team this year and the 32-year-old defensive end still has designs on double-digit sacks. But none of this was thought imaginable back in 2012, two years after the Eagles passed on Earl Thomas and traded up for an unknown edge rusher out of Michigan.
Graham has admitted many times that the criticism bothered him, sometimes made him question his own abilities. But the 269-pounder worked through it and he knows Carson Wentz can do the same. Perhaps no one on the roster is better suited to offer advice to the benched face of the franchise.
“Try not to worry about what people got to say because only you know what’s going on and how you can fix it,” Graham told reporters on Thursday. “And how you fix, that is really just working, and working on the thing you need to get better on … When people start to tell you what they see, looking on the outside in, it’s on you to make those decisions, so continue to keep on working hard, continue to keep on building where you’re weak at right now.”
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No One Losing Confidence in Wentz
Graham, much like teammates Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox have already stated, hasn’t lost any confidence in Wentz or his potential to be a great quarterback.
“There’s a lot of confidence that we all still have in Carson. We’ve seen it, we know,” Graham said. “It’s just on him to go out and keep working like he does and so don’t worry about what the nay-sayers say, it don’t matter. Because you are the one that can change what people are saying by how you work, and I think that’s what kind of kept me here, was how hard I tried to work and tried to flip that negative and turn it into a positive.”
Cox raised some eyebrows when he liked a photo that seemed to show he wanted Wentz to start over Jalen Hurts. On Wednesday, the All-Pro defensive tackle stood by his post and defended Wentz.
“My tweet is my tweet and I stand by it,” Cox told reporters. “Carson is my best friend on the team. I’ve had his back since day one. It sucks for a guy like Carson to be put in that position. It’s never one guy.”
Added Kelce: “I have no doubt this is not the final to the Carson Wentz story or saga. I will always have confidence in him as a person and as a player.”
Cowboys Comment on Wentz Debate
The Eagles’ main rival in the NFC East has been watching the Wentz situation from afar and trying to make sense of it. The Dallas Cowboys still haven’t inked their franchise quarterback, Dak Prescott, to a lucrative long-term contract.
That decision looms larger than ever following Wentz’s inexplicable regression. According to Cowboys vice-president Stephen Jones, the team isn’t worried and plans to move forward with Prescott as he mends from season-ending ankle surgery.
“We’re not nervous to sign Dak,” Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News. “I think his makeup is all the right things. He’s an amazing man off the field, he’s a great leader in our locker room, a great player and that’s why we’ve wanted to sign him long term.”
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