Philadelphia Eagles fans born after 2010 have never known a world without Brandon Graham on their favorite team until 2025.
That's right, originally drafted in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Michigan, Graham spent all 218 of his professional games in Philadelphia, playing up and down the offensive line for four different head coaches while establishing himself as the veteran leader of the team's defensive line.
Heading into the 2025 regular season, the Eagles opted to stay relatively young on the defensive line, with only one player, Ogbo Okoronkwo, on the roster who is over 30, but after he was inactive in Week 1, it became clear to the front office that the team needed at least a little extra something to get back to their winning ways.
Enter Za'Darius Smith, the 33-year-old veteran defensive lineman who Howie Roseman brought in to help provide some leadership to a unit that just had two players fined for unsportsmanlike conduct in Week 1.
Discussing his addition to the Eagles roster with reporters ahead of Week 2, Smith noted that he was at least partially brought in to play that “BG role” both on the field and in the locker room.
“I know when I was coming here, they were telling me a lot about BG,” said Smith via SI. “They want me to play that role kind of with the young guys, being a leader in the room. I'm all about it. I'm up for it.”
Breaking down how the signing came together, Smith revealed the Eagles actually called him before Week 1, but ended up giving him a few extra days to stay with his family before the deal was done over the weekend.
“Howie got me on the phone, I think it was Monday night (Sept. 1). He was like, ‘Z, you know we wanna get you here.' I had to go back and forth with my agent because we were still in negotiations with what we wanted to do. (Howie) was asking me if I could get here Tuesday morning. I was like, ‘Yeah, I can get there Tuesday morning.' Then I talked to coach, and he was like, ‘Z, you ready to play, you think you can give us some snaps?' I was like, ‘h*ll yeah,'” Smith explained.
“They called me back Tuesday afternoon and told me to just stay home with the fam, that the game plan was already in and they want to see what they can do with the young guys,” he said. “I respect Coach for that and Howie for giving me the opportunity to stay home for a couple more days with the family.”
Now granted, part of the Eagles' signing Smith after their Week 1 game could have had to do with not having to guarantee his entire contract for the 2025 NFL season, should they opt to release him midway through the season. And yet, if Smith has as much of an impact as Graham in 2024 this fall, he might just earn an extension into the future, as opposed to another late-summer game of wait and see.
