The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Thursday that they have opened Brandon Graham's practice window to return from injured reserve.
Graham revealed after the Eagles' Week 12 win over the Los Angeles Rams that he had torn his left triceps. The injury occurred late in the game after the outcome was no longer in doubt.
"It was a pass play," Graham said. "Running back came and chipped me right here on my arm."
At the time of the injury, Graham said he was done for the season. Before the season began, Graham said that 2024, his 15th NFL season, would be his last. He played very well, and was arguably the team's best edge defender at the time he was injured. He finished the regular season with 20 tackles and 3.5 sacks, with his stats not truly showing his actual impact, as has been the case throughout his career.
With Graham set to begin practicing this week, what can we expect to see from him in the Super Bowl, if he is able to play? We chatted with Dr. Dinesh Dhanaraj, the chief of orthopedic surgery at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, who offered us some insight on triceps injuries, and what we can potentially expect to see from Graham if he can return to the field. A note before getting started…
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and guest authors and do not reflect any official policy or position of any NFL team or a team's athletic physicians. "It's a triceps tendon injury, which is the back of the arm," Dhanaraj said. "It attaches to the elbow, and its job is to extend the elbow. Pushing, as a lineman, that's where you'd use your triceps.
"Most of the time when you repair these in athletes, it's a couple weeks of immobilization, followed by several weeks — if not months — of physical therapy. The usual return to play is anywhere between four-to-six months. He is way earlier than that."
Graham suffered his injury November 24, which would be 11 weeks from Super Bowl Sunday. Would he be limited?
"It definitely will be weaker," Dhanaraj said. "The point is, you reattach the tendon, and then it takes time, months, to strengthen it. Forcefully extending, pushing, could hypothetically be weaker. They could brace him in a certain position in which he's not really forcefully extending. He could still tackle."
- MORE EAGLES
- How the Eagles have matched up against their Super Bowl opponents
- Jalen Hurts and the QBs who made it back from losing their first Super Bowl
- Who is better, Eagles or Chiefs: Offense edition
Because Graham has said this is his last season, Dhanaraj said that it would not be unheard of for Graham to play in the Super Bowl with this injury, and then call it a career. "It's the Super Bowl. He could play through this game no matter what happens to the elbow. Unless that elbow is completely ruptured and he can't physically move it, he could play. Because the truth is, could he get it re-repaired after the Super Bowl? Well, yeah. Even when I talk to my regular patients I'm like, 'I guess you could play through this… if it's the Super Bowl.' That's the caveat I use." So there's a high likelihood that Graham could suffer a setback with this injury, but since it's the Super Bowl and it's his last season anyway, who cares?"Exactly," Dhanaraj said. "I would guess that is what is going through his mind and the doctors who are treating him are saying the same thing."You can rotate him in. He's not going to play every snap, but being in a rotation is ideal."
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader