Eagles DE Brandon Graham earns first Pro Bowl after 11 years, joining Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce.
The votes are in and have all been counted. The 2021 NFL Pro Bowl rosters have been announced and despite a tumultuous season, three Eagles have been awarded the honor of competing in this season’s event.
Brandon Graham
This might be the most wholesome story of the year. It’s been a long time coming for the 32-year-old DE, but Brandon Graham has finally been named a Pro Bowler.
Graham is currently leading the team in sacks (7) in what is now his eleventh year with the team and could still surpass double-digits in that metric for the first time in his career.
The fan-favorite has been integral to the success of the defensive line this year. The defense ranks second in sacks per game and a lot of that success can be attributed to Graham’s relentless pursuit.
His career in Philadelphia hasn’t always been smooth and transitioning from a 3-4 to a 4-3 may well have been the catalyst for his success, but BG has always been warm and welcoming to the City of Brotherly Love, while also coming up with some of the biggest plays of each and every season he’s played (CC: The strip-sack on Tom Brady).
Graham now owns the franchise record for most games played by a defensive lineman (157) and maintains a streak of 46 consecutive regular-season starts. His 58 career sacks currently rank him fourth in Eagles history and he could well surge even higher up the rankings.
There’s nobody more deserving than Brandon Graham!
Jason Kelce
The Eagles said it best, he’s the best in the biz.
Kelce is the only remaining starter along an offensive line that has been ravaged by injury and despite being 33-years-old, remains one of the most athletic centers of all time. An all-pro in each of his last three seasons, Kelce has very much been the glue keeping an ever-rotating OL group together.
The Cincinnati product has a PFF grade of 72.6 and has only allowed 4 sacks on 985 snaps. Kelce has played in 99.70% of snaps this year.
Fletcher Cox
If it wasn’t for Aaron Donald being a human Transformer, we may well be talking about Cox as a generational talent.
Despite his slow start to the year, Cox now has 6.5 sacks on the season, with 5 of which coming in the last 7 weeks. He’s already surpassed his 2019 total, as well as matched his tackle total from that season. He has 9 QB hits and 9 TFL just for good measure, further adding to his fearsome reputation.
For Cox to make six consecutive Pro Bowls speaks volumes about just how impressive he’s really been for the Eagles.
It’s not all bad, Eagles fans
In a season with so much chaos, the fact the Eagles are still sending three players to the Pro Bowl is a nice silver lining ahead of the Holiday period.
Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire
