The first time Brandon Graham played for Jim Schwartz was at the 2010 Senior Bowl.
Graham was coming off a terrific senior season at Michigan, Schwartz was coming off his first year as head coach of the Lions. At the time, Graham was hoping to reunite with Schwartz in Detroit.
"I really wanted to come when Schwartz was here," Graham told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket. "I knew they ran a 4-3 defense. I didn’t know where I was going to be, but I was counting all the 4-3 teams ... and they were one of the teams that I felt I could have potentially been on. But it worked out the way it did."
Graham, a first-team All-American and co-MVP of the Big Ten in 2009, wound up going 13th overall to the Eagles, where he's become one of the most consistent defensive players in the NFL. And he got his wish to reunite with Schwartz when the Eagles named him their defensive coordinator in 2016.
Graham says Schwartz is nothing like the coach he first met.
"I heard different things when he was in Detroit as a head coach. I had him at the Senior Bowl and he was cool. He just was kind of loud and crazy at the time. Now that I got him, more mellow, just really a pro coach," Graham said. "I love how smart he is, how serious he’s invested in this game."
"I think Schwartz is like night and day from what you know him as," he added with a laugh.
The 31-year-old Graham has thrived since Schwartz's arrival. He set career highs in sacks and tackles for loss in 2017, helping the Eagles to their first Super Bowl championship. His 40 tackles for loss since 2016 are the 11th most in the NFL.
On Sunday the Detroit native gets to face his hometown team for the sixth time in his career.
"They’re tricky, always," he said of the Lions. "I’ve won twice against them and lost three times to them since I’ve been in the league. The Lions, you can never count them out. I was a big fan growing up, but we play them this week. I’m excited because I got some family coming into town. Everybody’s kind of conflicted because we’re all Lions fans at heart.
"It’s real close to my heart. I watch them every year, always talk about them throughout the year. I think that Harbaugh just has to get that quarterback, the leader of this team," Graham said. "We’ve kind of just been making it work with what we have, we’ve been having some good defenses. ... Offensive wise, that’s where I feel like we have to get clicking."
Although Jim Harbaugh has yet to get the program over the hump, Graham is willing to be patient -- for at least a little while longer.
"Who else you going to bring in? That’s what I’m trying to figure out," he said. "But I do love his recruiting tactics, I love the stuff he’s been bringing in. I feel like he just needs to get that quarterback, that’s my biggest thing. I at least have to give him two more years."