Getty Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham are both heading to the 2020 Pro Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The NFL announced the rosters for the 2020 Pro Bowl on Monday and three Philadelphia Eagles made the final cut. The biggest accomplishment — and arguably the feel-good story of the year — goes to Brandon Graham.
The “trash-talking” gentle giant earned his first appearance in football’s all-star game after 11 years in the league. Graham, the 13th overall pick in 2010, is the longest-tenured player on defense for Philadelphia and appeared in his 157th career game in midnight green last week.
The 32-year-old pass rusher owns the franchise mark for the most games played in by a defensive lineman (two games ahead of Trent Cole) and ranks fourth all-time in franchise history for sacks (58). But Graham has never earned a Pro Bowl nod prior to today — and he’s never earned double-digit sacks in a single season, something he is only three away from in 2020.
“This is that much more special to me because I know how much work was put in years before and even this year, knowing that my time is almost running out. It’s on me to go out and do it. We went out there and did it,” Graham said of the honor, via the Eagles website. “To get that call is going to boost me even more for the next two games to try to go make it happen and get into these playoffs.”
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Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox Joining Graham
Graham wasn’t the only Eagles player selected to the Pro Bowl. All-Pro center Jason Kelce and All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox also earned spots on the NFC roster for a game that won’t be played for the first time in 70 years due to COVID-19 restrictions.
It marks the fourth Pro Bowl nod for Kelce and the sixth for Cox who adds his name to a pretty impressive list. There have only been four Philly players with more all-star selections than Cox, including Chuck Bednarik (8), Brian Dawkins (9), Jason Peters (9) and Reggie White (13).
Kelce and Cox have long been regarded as two of the best guys at their positions — perhaps Canton will call their names one day — and neither one has ever put their personal ego above the team.
“My job is to stay true to all of that [accountability] so the young guys or people in this building who are looking for guidance — even people outside this building who are looking for guidance or looking at me as a role model, young people or whatever — see that and say that’s the right way to do things,” said Kelce earlier this month. “That’s the way that it should be done. I’m far from perfect, I think everybody knows that, but you try to do the best you can and that’s all you can do.”
Eagles Passed on 4 Starting NFC Receivers
Hindsight is 20/20, right? It hurts to even look at it sometimes. However, no one can view the NFC Pro Bowl roster and unsee that the four starting wide receivers are all guys that Eagles GM Howie Roseman either passed on in the draft or decided not to trade for. DK Metcalf, Justin Jefferson, Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins have been designated as the best in the conference by both their peers and the fans. That’s saying something.
For some chilling perspective, here’s how those moves went down: the Eagles chose J.J. Arcega-Whiteside over Metcalf in the 2019 draft; Jalen Reagor over Jefferson in the 2020 draft; Jordan Matthews over Adams in the 2014 draft; and never upped their offer to the Houston Texans for Hopkins this past offseason. For the record, Roseman claimed he chose Darius Slay over Hopkins because the franchise could only afford one or the other. They chose Slay.
The 2021 Pro Bowl rosters have been announced 🙌
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