Re-Signing Brandon Graham Best Move Eagles Have Made So Far in Free Agency

It's been a rough couple of days for the Philadelphia Eagles, at least in the court of public opinion. The team's flurry of free-agent activity has been looked less like a master plan and more like Chip Kelly flailing around in his first major test since taking over the personnel side in Philly.

You may think that swapping out LeSean McCoy for Frank Gore makes no sense, or that the team is about to overpay cornerback Byron Maxwell.

However, despite your opinion of those acquisitions, it's much harder to find fault with Kelly's latest move.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the Eagles have re-signed outside linebacker Brandon Graham to a four-year extension:

The 26-year-old Graham, who tied a career high with 5.5 sacks in 2014, had reportedly narrowed down his options to the Giants and Eagles, who drafted him in the first round back in 2010:

At first glance, it might seem a bit odd to be handing Graham $14 million in guaranteed money. After all, 17 sacks in five seasons doesn't exactly scream "pass-rushing force." Graham played less than 550 snaps for the Eagles in 2014.

Year	Games	Snaps	Tackles	Sacks	FF	INT
2010	13	482	13	5.5	2	0
2011	3	56	4	3.0	0	0
2012	16	435	38	5.5	2	0
2013	16	353	19	0.0	1	0
2014	16	524	47	3.0	4	0

With that said, though, the first glance hardly tells the whole story with Graham.

Among the 46 qualifying 3-4 outside linebackers at Pro Football Focus in 2014, only Justin Houston of the Kansas City Chiefs and Pernell McPhee of the Baltimore Ravens received a higher grade than Graham's 22.8.

That's higher than Terrell Suggs of the Ravens (21.6). And Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers (6.7). And Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers (5.8).

It's also no fluke. Graham graded as a top 15 outside linebacker in 2013. Twice in the last three years, Graham has received a grade of plus-20 or higher from PFF.

A look at Graham's per-snap productivity tells even more of the story.

Per the Pass Rushing Productivity metric at PFF, which measures "pressure created on a per snap basis with weighting toward sacks," no 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL who saw more than 200 pass rush snaps in 2014 was more effective at making quarterbacks miserable than Graham.

Player	Team	PR Snaps	PRP Left	PRP Right	OVR PRP
B. Graham	PHI	225	15.2	18.7	17.7
J. Houston	KC	444	16.1	12.7	15.7
P. McPhee	BAL	347	9.4	18.1	14.4
R. Kerrigan	WAS	440	13.1	12.0	13.0
J. Harrison	PIT	209	16.7	13.0	12.9

Simply put, he can get after it:

Those kinds of players can command a high price in free agency. And with every high-end pass-rusher who came off the market this year, speculation grew that Graham was going to be priced outside Philly's range, especially since some felt Graham would be a better fit with his hand on the ground in a four-man front.

In fact, less than 24 hours before Graham signed on the bottom line, some Philly beat writers were still bidding adieu to Graham despite rumors the Eagles were closing in on a deal:

However, since severing ties with Trent Cole, the Eagles badly needed to at least stabilize their front seven after ranking third in the league with 49 sacks a year ago. Graham does that, and if his potential and per-snap production is any indication, getting Graham for $6.5 million a year is a steal.

So bemoan the Eagles getting older in the backfield (I might). Complain about handing a good cornerback elite money (I have). Despair over the possibility that Mark Sanchez could be the team's Week 1 starter (I would).

Kelly may well have fouled a few of those moves off. Or swung and missed entirely. But keeping a young and talented pass-rusher in Brandon Graham in town at a very reasonable price?

That's a home run right there.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter at @IDPManor.