After 15 seasons and two Super Bowl titles, Brandon Graham officially retired from the NFL this offseason.<\/p>\n
But his legacy lives on in Nolan Smith.<\/p>\n
Smith, 24, thinks about Graham every day when he looks into the mirror at his house and sees the words \u201cBe You\u201d written down. A reminder of the most important bit of advice he got from his legendary former teammate, advice that helped him get through a slow start as a rookie back in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a learning year,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd, truly, a testament to Brandon Graham. You\u2019re about to make me cry up here just because BG gave me so much just from the outside world putting so much pressure on me. \u2018You\u2019re a first-round pick, you need to do this, you need to do that.\u2019 BG just told me, \u2018Be you.\u2019 And til this point that\u2019s what I got on my mirror, my goals, be you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody can make you be anything other than yourself and as long as you work and put in that dedication and that effort every day. And that\u2019s why I work so hard. I just want to be me. And it\u2019s not for me. It\u2019s for B. It\u2019s for B when he was doubted when he first got here and so was I. He just kept pushing me and he leaned into me. As we say in the south, he just poured into my glass just a little bit more. He just kept pouring into my glass and he believed in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone knows Graham\u2019s story. How he was a first-round pick back in 2010 and had to work tirelessly to shed the \u201cbust\u201d label that was prematurely attached to his name as other options in his draft range found early success. Not only did Graham overcome all that early adversity but he did it with a smile. At his retirement press conference, Graham was flanked by both Lombardi Trophies.<\/p>\n
Smith didn\u2019t have quite as much to overcome in 2023. But after the Eagles drafted him with the No. 30 overall pick out of Georgia in 2023, Smith had a flashy training camp that didn\u2019t translate into production as a rookie. He had just 1 sack in 17 games and played just 16% of the Eagles\u2019 defensive snaps that first season.<\/p>\n
But Year 2? Smith broke out in a big way.<\/p>\n
He ended up being the Eagles\u2019 best edge rusher for most of the season, compiling 10 1\/2 sacks in the regular season and postseason. And after Graham\u2019s retirement and Josh Sweat\u2019s departure in free agency, Smith returns for Year 3 as the Eagles\u2019 unquestioned No. 1 edge rusher.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next for Smith?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next step in my game personally is just be that pass rusher and keep rushing. But be the ultimate player,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI talked to Coach Vic (Fangio) and he always told me play the game the right way. That\u2019s what I always tell myself, \u2018Play the game the right way.\u2019 Because I gotta crush the run in order to rush the passer. When you play the game the right way, don\u2019t chase sacks and don\u2019t do none of that, be a football player, truly, everything else will take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith might be a tad undersized but he proved himself to be a complete player in 2024 \u2014 a guy who can do it all on the field and lead off it.<\/p>\n
When asked about the extra focus on himself entering 2025, Smith said he embraces that challenge and thinks of it as an honor. Then he offered that he wants to remain coachable and soak up as much knowledge from Fangio as possible. Smith said he isn\u2019t even sure if Fangio knows it, but said his DC has coached some of his favorite all-time players. One of them is future Hall of Famer Von Miller, who was a Pro Bowler under Fangio in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nothing for me to listen to him, to be coachable,\u201d Smith said. \u201cLike, are you crazy?\u201d<\/p>\n
While Smith tore his triceps in the Super Bowl LIX win, he\u2019s already back on the practice field in a limited fashion and is hoping to begin \u201cstriking\u201d with that surgically repaired left arm next week.<\/p>\n
During the offseason when Smith would go to the NovaCare Complex for treatment, he would often call Graham and chat about everything. Smith still talks to Graham on the phone every day and it\u2019s not like the Eagles\u2019 legend isn\u2019t around anymore.<\/p>\n
Not long before Smith spoke to reporters on Tuesday, Graham was seen walking out of the building, still sporting his signature smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t fill nobody\u2019s shoes,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI would never do that. BG\u2019s like too great a Philly (legend) and the more I go on in Philly, the more that he does. You just can\u2019t do that. I can just try my best to [emulate] that and just bring that energy every day like he does.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 15 seasons and two Super Bowl titles, Brandon Graham officially retired from the NFL this offseason. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[25,4904,7,6,242,109,2476],"class_list":{"0":"post-111109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-eagles","9":"tag-eagles-blog","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","14":"tag-philadelphiaeagles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114641971835169452","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}