How Important Are Brandon Graham & Jordan Hicks To Eagles Defense?
Among the several Eagles players who have undergone surgery over the past 12 months, the defensive players recovery from injuries gets overlooked with big names like Carson Wentz taking most of the headlines. Brandon Graham is recovering from ankle surgery after playing in the Super Bowl not at optimal health; Graham expects to be good to go for Week One of the regular season even though he has admitted that he will be less than 100 percent back to his normal level of play when the Eagles host the Falcons on September 6th. After leading the NFL in Quarterback Hurries in 2016, Graham had another impactful season in 2017 when he was rated the Ninth Best Edge Rusher in the NFL by Pro Football Focus and the best Edge Rusher versus the Run in the NFL last season.
Philadelphia Daily News Sports Columnist Marcus Hayes joined The Sports Bash on Monday discussing Brandon Graham's recovery and returning impact players for Eagles Defense:
“I do get the sense that (Graham is) going to be good to go. He looks fine, he sounds fine. He’s a pretty honest guy, I don’t see any deficiency in Brandon Graham. - If you didn’t know he had an injury you probably wouldn’t know that he had ankle surgery if you saw him....There are so many guys on the offensive side of the ball that were hurt (last season) that you forget that the guy who iced the Super Bowl is a little less than 100 percent at this point. And you also kind of forget that, arguably the most dynamic defensive player that they have, and that might not be fair to Fletcher Cox, but Jordan Hicks is back and playing great after he ruptured his Achilles. That’s spectacular news. This could be the kind of defense that Jim Schwartz thought it would be when he (chose) to be the Defensive Coordinator the first two seasons, and a lot of that relies on Jordan Hicks being effective at Middle Linebacker.”
Checkout what Hayes had to say about Doug Pederson's handling of the media, Carson Wentz status, the play of the Phillies in August, and more