PHILADELPHIA — There was a time, a long time, when Brandon Graham was known for who he wasn’t.

He was not Earl Thomas, the All-Pro safety who went one pick after him in the 2010 draft.

He was not Dez Bryant or Eric Decker, the two wide receivers who were selected with the picks the Eagles traded in order to move up and select Graham at No. 13.

He was not Trent Cole or Hugh Douglas, the two defensive ends whose footsteps he’d been expected to follow.

On a Tuesday morning that saw Graham walk into retirement as one of the most beloved and productive players in defensive history, it is worth remembering what we once considered him to be.

A bust.

That’s a strange way to start a toast to an all-time great. The moments and numbers will ultimately define him. Minneapolis, February of 2018: Second down, 2 yards to go, 2:16 to play, Eagles holding a five-point lead against the greatest quarterback comeback artist in NFL history. Tom Brady drops back, steps up in the pocket, sees a receiver open to his right. He cocks to throw, but the ball is missing. Graham is wrapped around his stomach. You close your eyes and still see it, two Super Bowls later. There is nothing like the first time. Graham will live there forever.

Graham’s Super Bowl strip sack of Brady was his greatest of 82 career sacks, third most in Eagles history. The forced fumble was one of 25, nine more than the next-closest defensive lineman. His 132 tackles for loss rank 26th in NFL history. There is no shortage of sentences to include on the plaque. Graham has written his own story.

But that story also includes us. The media, the fan base, the sports talkers and phone-callers. A decade ago, a kid from Detroit moved to Philadelphia and found himself in a gauntlet that has broken plenty of men. After the Eagles traded up to draft him at No. 13 overall in 2010, Graham spent the first two years of his career battling the physical realities of life in the NFL. Injuries limited him to 16 games in his first two seasons. By the start of his third season, he had three career sacks.

Graham was a victim of circumstance as much as anything. The injuries sapped his ability to play with the force he’d exhibited throughout his career at Michigan. Eagles fans saw a shadow of the player they thought they were getting. That was especially true when they looked out west to Seattle, where Thomas, a pre-draft fan favorite, was blossoming into one of the best defensive players in the league. Graham became a convenient target for those who saw the Eagles sliding into oblivion: 10-6 in 2010, 8-8 in 2011, 4-12 in 2012. The criticism was so open that Graham’s mother was reluctant to wear her son’s jersey when she attended games.

During minicamps in the spring of 2012, Graham gave a memorable interview in which he labeled himself a bust.

“Right now, I’m a bust, so I’m going to deal with that,” he said. “I’m a bust, and I’m going to keep being a bust. Even when I make plays, I’m going to still act like I’m a bust. You know what I’m saying?”

That 2012 season was the end of the Reid Era but the start of something for Graham. He played in 16 games, set the edge, tallied 5.5 sacks.

He’s been smiling ever since.

It defines him, that smile. Many of them have been lost beneath the adversity Graham faced. Pat Burrell, Donovan McNabb, Mike Schmidt — the prickle of early rejection never left their spirit entirely. Philly is not a fun place to fall short of expectations. The experience can leave a bitter residue. That wasn’t the case with Graham.

There were no victory laps. He never told you so. As Graham emerged as a fan favorite and one of the best edge defenders in the NFL, he showed no visible signs of resentment toward the bandwagon’s late-arriving crowd. Somehow.

As he retires today, I’m reminded of something else he said in 2012, toward the end of that season.

“It ain’t over,” he said. “This is just the start. I’m going to try to get better each week and keep going forward.”

Well, it’s over now. Nobody deserves it more.

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