Corey Dewayne Graham (born July 25, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

. He was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He played for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

, and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. Graham is a one-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection and two-time

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

champion.

College career

Graham attended the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

, where he played for the New Hampshire Wildcats football team.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

The

selected Graham in the fifth round (168th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft. He was the 17th cornerback drafted in 2007. On May 22, 2007, the Chicago Bears signed Graham to a four-year, $1.81 million contract that included a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $149,500. In 2008, Graham started at cornerback alongside longtime Bear

Charles Tillman Charles Anthony Tillman (born February 23, 1981), nicknamed Peanut,Donnelly, MikeCharles Tillman - Not Your Typical 'Peanut'(January 18, 2007), nflplayers.com, Retrieved on July 25, 2007. is an American former professional football player who ...

. Graham registered his first career

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

on October 19, 2008 off of

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

quarterback Gus Frerotte. Graham also recorded 91 tackles in the 2008 season. Graham was selected to his first

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

after a season in which he recorded 16 total tackles, deflected three passes, forced a fumble, and caught three interceptions.

Baltimore Ravens

Graham signed with the

on March 23, 2012. Graham said that upon signing with the Ravens, he looked to see more time on defense, as well as continuing his solid special teams play. Corey Graham Ravens

Graham had a limited role on defense at first, but injuries to

Lardarius Webb Lardarius Webb (born October 12, 1985) is a former American football cornerback. He played collegiately at Nicholls State University and the University of Southern Mississippi. Webb was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round of the ...

and Jimmy Smith helped earn him more playing time. Graham was named the CBS player of the game for the Baltimore Ravens' 2012 Divisional round playoff game against the top seeded

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. In this game, Graham intercepted two

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with th ...

passes and made 8 tackles. Graham returned his first interception of the game 39 yards for a touchdown, giving the Ravens a 14–7 lead midway through the first quarter. Graham's second interception of the game occurred in overtime and led to a Ravens game-winning field goal, advancing the team to the AFC championship game. The Ravens entered the game as 9.5 point underdogs, but won the game in double overtime, 38–35, thanks in part to Graham's performance. Graham would call joining the Ravens the second best decision of his life, behind marrying his wife. Graham earned his first Super Bowl ring on February 3, 2013, when the Ravens defeated the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in Super Bowl XLVII.

Buffalo Bills

On March 12, 2014, Graham signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the

. He contributed as a cornerback and on special teams during his first season on the team before being moved to the starting safety position under head coach

Rex Ryan Rex Ashley Ryan (born December 13, 1962) is an American former football coach and analyst. Ryan was formerly the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL), and also held various coaching position ...

. On March 10, 2017, Graham was released by the Bills after the team signed Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer.

Philadelphia Eagles

On August 3, 2017, Graham signed a one-year contract with the

reuniting him with former teammates Torrey Smith and

Dannell Ellerbe Dannell Antonio Ellerbe (born November 29, 1985) is a former American football linebacker. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2009 and has also played for the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Ea ...

. Graham won his second Super Bowl ring when the Eagles defeated the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

41-33 in Super Bowl LII with Graham recording five tackles. Coincidentally, both that game and the other Super Bowl he was part of the winning team on, XLVII, were two of only three Super Bowls in NFL history where both teams recorded at least 30 points, the other being

XIII XIII may refer to: * 13 (number) or XIII in Roman numerals * 13th century in Roman numerals * ''XIII'' (comics), a Belgian comic book series by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance ** ''XIII'' (2003 video game), a 2003 video game based on the comic b ...

between the Cowboys and Steelers. On August 5, 2018, Graham re-signed with the Eagles on a one-year deal.

References

External links

Buffalo Bills bio

Baltimore Ravens bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Corey 1985 births Living people Players of American football from Buffalo, New York African-American players of American football American football cornerbacks New Hampshire Wildcats football players Chicago Bears players Baltimore Ravens players Buffalo Bills players Philadelphia Eagles players National Conference Pro Bowl players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people