Philadelphia Eagles: PFF envisions a comeback season for Brandon Graham

In an article of potential regression candidates, PFF labeled Philadelphia Eagles’ Brandon Graham as a player who will make a comeback in 2019.

Early on in his career, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham didn’t have the highest reputation within the city. Being that he was a first-round pick, selected ahead of Earl Thomas, Eagles fans were far from excited for the former Michigan pass rusher. To make matters worse, Graham struggled early on in his career, and as expected, Eagles fans were not too pleased.

Eventually, though, Graham got the city of Philadelphia on his back. Sure, it did take until he strip-sacked Tom Brady in the Super Bowl to have the support of the fan base fully — but better late than never, right? Anyway, Graham’s roller coaster of a career will continue in Philly after he signed a brand new three-year deal a few months back.

Some were happy to see Graham back in action. Others questioned the idea of paying a guy $40 million for the next three seasons while he was coming off of a four sack season in 2018. Graham recently surpassed his career-high sack number in 2017, but it was evident his ankle injury from the Super Bowl slowed down his progression the following year.

Now, at this point, we’re not really sure what to expect out of Graham in 2019. Will he continue to be the pass rusher who gets pressure on the quarterback, but doesn’t often get sacks? Or will Graham get back to his 2017 ways where he’s a problem in terms of both, sacks and pressure?

Well, according to Pro Football Focus…

As we know, our friends over at Pro Football Focus are quite fond of Graham’s game. Whenever they get the opportunity to discuss the Eagles pass rusher, they go into great detail about how important he is, and how his value goes way beyond the sack totals. PFF recognized Graham’s slow year in 2018, but they recently listed him as a comeback candidate for 2019.

In an article meant to mention regression candidates, PFF made sure to keep it positive as well. They discussed which player would have fewer sacks in 2019, and came up with Arizona Cardinals pass rusher, Chandler Jones. As for the candidate who is expected to get more sacks in 2019, that happened to be the one and only, Brandon Graham. Here’s what PFF had to say:

"“People don’t realize just how good Graham has been for the Eagles over his career, and it is largely because his sack totals just don’t scream that he’s an elite player. Graham might be an exception to the rule considering that when you look at the last five seasons, he has a sack conversion rate of just 10.9% on his pressures, third-worst among 26 players with 250 or more pressures over that span.” “That was even worse in 2018, as he converted just five of his 70 regular season pressures into sacks (7.1% – worst among all players with 35 or more pressures). He’s recorded 50 or more pressures in each of the past five seasons so the opportunity should be there to put up more sacks, and the numbers tell you he should.”"