Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman selected defensive end Brandon Graham with the 13th pick in the 2010 NFL draft, one that the young general manager was criticized for at the time.

Graham retired in March after winning his second Super Bowl title in his 15 seasons with the Eagles. It's safe to say that it was a pick well-spent for Roseman.

But early on, it didn't look that way. Roseman described an early-career conversation he had with Graham that in Roseman's words, will bond them for life.

"He got hurt in 2010 and he was kind of coming back in 2011," Roseman began. "And in 2011, as he came back, you know, there was a game that we played in Miami. And I want to say at the time we were 4-8, and he was inactive. Him and I had a conversation in Miami which was basically like, 'If you're going down, I'm going down too. You and I are going to be in it together because if you're not going to be successful, I'm not going to be successful. There's no way I'm going to be able to make it in Philadelphia without you being successful.' We shared a moment, you know? And I'll never forget being in Miami, me and him eye-to-eye and in typical BG fashion he looked at me with a big smile and said, 'I got you.'"

Graham, of course, proved Roseman right. In 206 career games, Graham made 487 combined tackles, 126 tackles for loss and 76.5 sacks. He'll be an Eagles legend forever.

More NFL on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Eagles GM Howie Roseman Opens Up on Career-Saving Conversation With Brandon Graham.

Test hyperlink for boilerplate