Eagles’ Graham could make return

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tinged with a touch of gray in his beard, a bulky brace on his left arm, Brandon Graham is ready to attempt a comeback in time for the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl champion defensive end isn’t quite ready to say if his playing career is over.

Retirement declarations can wait; the veteran Philadelphia Eagles defensive end can say with certainty, though, that he’s trying to rehab a torn triceps and return for the Feb. 9 Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Whatever I’ve got to do for this one game,” Graham said Thursday, “I feel like I can do it.”

Graham was a limited participant in practice on Thursday, his first one in more than two months that creates a possibility for a potential return in the Super Bowl from an injury once considered season-ending.

The 36-year-old Graham was thought to be done for the season after he tore his triceps in a Nov. 24 game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Graham was placed on injured reserve two days later, seemingly ending what he had called the final season of his career. As the Eagles kept winning, including all three NFC playoff games, Graham started to hint he could put on his No. 55 jersey — he considered it a good luck sign when the Eagles scored 55 points in the NFC title game — in the Super Bowl.

“We’ve got two weeks. Today was a great start,” Graham said. “As long as I don’t have no setbacks, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”

Graham is one of two position players and four players overall left from the Eagles’ Super Bowl championship team in the 2017 season.

Will Graham be part of that group next season? The Eagles’ first-round pick out of Michigan in 2010, Graham said in training camp this would be his final season. His injury caused him to reexamine his choice, though his retirement decision isn’t final.

“I ain’t there yet, man,” Graham said. “We’re going to get this one. Let’s go get this one and then we’ll talk about it.”