NEW ORLEANS — Brandon Graham is living the John Elway and Michael Strahan fantasy.
Barring a change of heart, Graham played the final game of his 15-year NFL career Sunday and went out as a Super Bowl 2025 champion in the Eagles’ 40-22 victory against the Chiefs.
Unlike Elway and Strahan, who were elected to the Hall of Fame after their Broncos and Giants, respectively, won Super Bowls in their final seasons, Graham is not an all-time great NFL player.
But he is considered a franchise icon in Philadelphia, where he played in 218 regular-season and playoff games.
The last of those was Sunday, which became possible when he battled back from a torn triceps on Nov. 24 by beating all timelines for recovery to have one more special moment.
Graham dropped to his knees on the confetti-sprayed field and embraced his two kids.
His daughter shouted, “We won the Super Bowl!” as she hopped up and down waiting for a hug.
“One of our goals for the long run was just to get Brandon a Super Bowl,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said before slipping into his best Graham voice impersonation. “[He was saying], ‘Just one more chance.’
Mailata then got more emotional, his voice cracking slightly.
“We believed him,” Mailata said. “The ultimate goal was to get it done, but to get it for Brandon, if this is his last year. For him to go out as a champion, that’s special. That’s something that we are going to remember. I just realized that was my last game with B.G.”
Graham and Eagles general manager Howie Roseman bear-hugged so тιԍнтly in the Eagles locker room that it was unclear who would lift who off the ground.
Graham and Saquon Barkley sprayed champagne, and Graham posed for a selfie with cigar-smoking quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Graham finished with just one tackle, but his impact was more about the emotional spark that he provided to his teammates with his fight to recover.
He was part of the coin toss.
His Super Bowl legacy was long ago cemented, when his strip-sack of Tom Brady in the 2018 Super Bowl helped to clinch the Eagles’ first тιтle.
Nick Foles, the MVP of that game, had Graham on his mind as he watched Super Bowl 2025 from afar.
“Congratulations to Brandon Graham on going out on top with a Super Bowl victory,” Foles wrote on social media. “One of my favorite teammates of all time.”
