Graham Claims Reports of Contract Issues are ‘Fake News’

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - Brandon Graham is back in South Philadelphia preparing for the 2017 season after reports surfaced that his return to Detroit was tied to unhappiness with his contract.

Graham has two years left on his current contract at a substantial rate but less than his presumed backup, Vinny Curry.

Eagles executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman denied there were any issues with the second-team All-Pro but demurred when asked if Graham's agent Joel Segal had reached out.

For Graham's part, he claims the trip back to the Motor City was about visiting his family and nothing else labeling reports of laying the groundwork for a potential future holdout "Fake News" in a statement to Philadelphia-based radio personality Howard Eskin.

Offseason work is completely voluntary until June's mandatory minicamp so no one in the media has claimed Graham is "holding out," including the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane, who first reported the potential unhappiness.

Presumably, this settles whether or not Graham will be on the practice field May 23 when the Eagles resume on-field OTA work.

It remains hard to imagine the Eagles will enter the season with Curry making more than Graham so more than "fake news," this could be an example of a wink-wink in which Roseman has promised Segal that an adjustment will be made at some point.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen