Eagles Activate Brandon Graham, Cut Kyle DeVan

by JasonB on Nov 6, 2011 3:07 AM EDT in Philadelphia Eagles News

The Eagles made the move we've been waiting for the last two weeks and activated 2010 first round pick Brandon Graham from the PUP list. G Kyle DeVan was cut to make room. Our speculation was that Jarrad Page would be the obvious man out, but actually DeVan probably works just as well. After a poor start to the season, he was benched prior to the Bills game in favor of 2011 first round pick Danny Watkins, who seems to have made the position his own since then.

But really, the story here is Graham. He obviously won't start and will probably only see limited snaps, but just the fact that he'll be back playing is a big deal. This was the 13th overall pick in the draft in 2010, so clearly the team sees him as a major part of their future. While he may not be the pass rusher Jason Babin is at this point. Graham was a better two way defender at Michigan. He was a great pass rusher and did well against the run. So the upside is that we could potentially have a second Trent Cole to play opposite Trent Cole...

But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here. It's just good to see Graham back and now he's got some time to further strengthen the knee and get himself back into playing shape.

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Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself

Brandon Graham is awesome, in my brain I’m totally doing this dance:

The Curse of Lombardi

by d-jackfan10 on Nov 6, 2011 3:11 AM EDT reply actions

Question: Do you think he can wrestle away the starting job from Babin or even the main sub role from Tapp?

Formerly number5
RIP JJ

by HawaiianGreen on Nov 6, 2011 3:47 AM EDT up reply actions

No, Babin has something like 9 sacks on the year and Tapp when in has been productive. At best I see 10 – 12 snaps a game for the next few weeks. Coaches will evaluate where he is from there. It is nice to see him back in action tho, it would surprise me to see him starting before this time next year.

"Learning to eat soup with a knife"

by h2o_34_35_44 on Nov 6, 2011 3:54 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

The dancing kid, or Brandon Graham?

Oh boy, is this great!

by MayIhave10,000marblesplease? on Nov 6, 2011 3:55 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs

Could he? Sure, he could but it would take a massive effort and a few great (and I mean GREAT) performances for him to displace Babin. Thats more of a compliment to Babin than it is a slight to Graham.

And I fully expect Graham to pass Tapp by the end of the year. Tapp is good but he only has so much talent, Graham when healthy (thats the real key) is clearly better than Tapp. He is just more explosive.

The Curse of Lombardi

by d-jackfan10 on Nov 6, 2011 3:55 AM EDT up reply actions

If memory serves me ACLs are a 2 year injury. I agree on the Babin playing great football right now. I would love to see a dog fight between these two (no pun intended) for the starting roll by the end of the season but, I don’t expect one.

"Learning to eat soup with a knife"

by h2o_34_35_44 on Nov 6, 2011 3:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Traditional thinking typically suggest that ACL injuries are two year recovery periods, you’re right about that but I think it really depends from case to case. Brandon Graham never had any injury problems before, he took his recovery slowly (didn’t rush back) and he is young so I think he has a better shot at recovering faster. Will he recover fast or slow? Impossible for me to say at this point. It could heal fast or slow, who amongst us really knows? All I know is that Andy Reid thinks he is ready to go so I think he’ll be ready to go as well.

The Curse of Lombardi

by d-jackfan10 on Nov 6, 2011 4:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Andy or Wash?

But I understand what you’re saying. Above all else him being activated instead of being placed on the IR tells them that he’s back coming back or has shown enough the last few weeks that he can contribute this season.

"Learning to eat soup with a knife"

by h2o_34_35_44 on Nov 6, 2011 4:23 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree

but a lot of BG game is based off of explosion and speed. So I’m thinking he won’t be all the way back really until next season. I think he’ll be pretty good yet this year and I’m hoping for 4 or 5 sacks from him the rest of the way. But next year I think will really be his breakout year for him, if he can stay healthy.

by slandog on Nov 7, 2011 9:48 AM EST up reply actions