PHILADELPHIA − Brandon Graham is 34 and coming off a torn Achilles. Fletcher Cox is a few months shy of 32, coming off the worst season of his career.
Yet Cox and Graham, two of the three longest-tenured Eagles, are having perhaps their best starts to a season as the Eagles prepare for their game Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Graham was named the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week after 2.5 sacks, including a forced fumble, in the Eagles’ 24-8 win over the Washington Commanders last Sunday.
Cox had 1.5 sacks against the Commanders. The two lead the Eagles with 3 sacks each, and are in a group tied for 8th among the NFL sack leaders.
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Graham is in his 13th season and Cox is in his 11th. Their 3 sacks through 3 games ties each of their career highs in sacks through the first three games of a season. Cox had just 3.5 sacks all of last season when he played in 16 of the 17 games.
Yet the two stalwarts, who rank fourth (Graham with 62) and fifth (Cox with 61) in Eagles’ history in sacks, have found the fountain of youth by embracing their age and playing less.
Graham got his sacks against Washington despite playing just 35% of the snaps. Graham has not played more than 48% of the snaps in any game this season.
The last time Graham played less than 50% of the snaps in three straight games was in 2014, when he was playing out of position as a backup outside linebacker.
“That’s just the focus of taking every rep seriously,” Graham said. “It doesn’t matter if I have 10 (snaps). I’m just trying to give 100 percent effort and showing the young guys that whatever your role is, just embrace it. You never know what might come out of it.”
Cox hadn’t gone three straight games playing fewer than 70% of the snaps since his rookie season in 2012.
Fellow defensive lineman Javon Hargrave said that’s no accident. Cox and Hargrave are part of a defensive tackle rotation that includes first-round draft pick Jordan Davis, and 2021 draft picks Milton Williams (third round) and Marlon Tuipolutu (sixth round).
All five have averaged at least 32% of the defensive snaps. Hargrave (57%) and Cox (56%) have played the most.
“The rotation just keeps us fresh,” said Hargrave, who’s coming off a Pro Bowl season. “Nobody is really getting tired, and we’re keeping fresh bodies on the field. I think we feel a lot better, just having some of the young guys coming in.”
Or as defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said about Cox: “He understands the value of how we align him and deploy him to train wreck the game.”
Cox and Graham are doing just that, despite being deployed less frequently.
“You just see that neither one of those guys is slowing down,” said Jaguars coach Doug Pederson, who was the Eagles’ coach from 2016-20, when Cox was selected to the Pro Bowl in each season, and Graham in 2020. “I’ve got a ton of respect for both players. They’ve obviously battled adversity and injury over the years, and put themselves into position to be this successful.”
There’s still one more benefit of Cox and Graham producing more while playing less, one that the Eagles haven’t seen yet.
“That’s going to take us farther,” Hargrave said. “In November and December, it’s going to benefit us a lot.”
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
