SOUTH WHITEHALL Twp., Pa. — One of the Philadelphia Eagles’ two-time Super Bowl champions helped Lehigh Valley fans get pumped up for the new season Thursday at Dorney Park.
Recently retired linebacker Brandon Graham was the star turn at Dorney’s “Tailgate in the Park,” where more than 100 fans — many dressed in their NFL Sunday’s best — celebrated the season’s imminent start in the shadow of the Hydra, also donned in green.
They chatted and took selfies with Graham, a 15-year veteran who spent his entire career with the Eagles, as he served food at the tailgate before jogging off for a question-and-answer session on the other side of the amusement park.
Graham is among four players to win two Super Bowls with the Eagles, alongside current kicker Jake Elliot, offensive lineman Lane Johnson and long snapper Rick Lovato, who left the team this spring after eight seasons.
Graham announced his retirement in mid-March, five weeks after the Eagles overpowered the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl 59.
‘A legend’
Graham’s appearance Thursday at Dorney delighted Travis Yorgey and his daughter, Eve.
“He's a legend,” Yorgey said. “He’s as friendly in person as he seems on TV.”
Yorgey said he attended the final day of the Eagles’ last training camp at Lehigh University in 2012 and praised Graham for giving Lehigh Valley fans another opportunity to rally around the team.
“I love that he did this here in the Valley,” he said.
He also credited wide receiver DeVonta Smith for holding his annual celebrity softball game in Allentown.
“It's just cool that they still come up to this area, since training camp isn’t here anymore,” Yorgey said.
Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman addressed a packed room Wednesday at the 2025 BSI CORE Annual Summit in South Bethlehem.
Yorgey kept his local love going when he chose Saquon Barkley, who set records at Whitehall High School, among the players he’s most excited to see return to the field after last season's championship run.
Dynasty brewing?
Eve, who’s watched two Super Bowl-winning teams in her 12 years, said she thinks the Eagles could be starting a dynasty.
Justin Fiorillo, whose Instagram is plastered with Eagles content, said he’s eager to see how the team deals with the added pressure of being defending champions.
“It should be, it could be, and I think it will be (an Eagles dynasty). I really do."Eagles fan Justin Fiorillo
He hopes they enter the new season up with the “exact same vision … that we had last season: holding that Lombardi trophy up at the end of the year.”
Fiorillo said he thinks rookie linebacker Jihaad Campbell, selected in the first round of the 2025 Draft, is “going to be a really, really good player for us.”
Campbell “was a superstar” at the University of Alabama, he said.
Fiorillo agreed with Eve’s assessment of a potential Eagles dynasty.
“It should be, it could be, and I think it will be," he said. "I really do."
