Could unretired Brandon Graham play as soon as Sunday against the Giants?

The Eagles edge rusher corps is even more banged up following the win over the Minnesota Vikings than it was before the game, when rumors began to swirl about the end of Brandon Graham’s retirement.

Azeez Ojulari exited Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury, making him the third edge rusher to be sidelined with an ailment through seven contests this season. Nolan Smith and Ogbo Okoronkwo are out with triceps injuries. Smith is expected to return in November following the Eagles’ Week 9 bye, and Okoronkwo is done for the year.

» READ MORE: Brandon Graham says he didn’t want to retire — and this isn’t the first time the Eagles tried to bring him back

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Tuesday he doesn’t think Ojulari will be available to play Sunday against the New York Giants, the team that drafted him 50th overall out of Georgia in 2021.

So could Graham suit up on Sunday, given that the Eagles have just three healthy, full-time edge rushers — Jalyx Hunt, Joshua Uche, and Patrick Johnson — on the active roster?

The 37-year-old defensive end announced that he was coming out of retirement to rejoin the Eagles on Tuesday morning on his podcast, Brandon Graham Unblocked. Graham estimated that he would return to action after the bye week for the Eagles’ Monday night game against the Green Bay Packers.

That timetable would give him three weeks, including the bye, to get up to speed. But Fangio left Graham’s potential return date open-ended.

“We’ll see what kind of shape he’s in, what kind of retention he has from last year,” Fangio said. “Shape comes in two forms: one, just your conditioning, but in football shape, too. Contact shape. So hopefully the sooner the better.”

Fangio said he had been “teasing [Graham] not to retire” since the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX victory in February. That ribbing continued into this season whenever Graham would visit the NovaCare Complex in an effort, Fangio said, to “try and light the fire.”

Now, following the surprise retirement of Za’Darius Smith last week, Graham is back under Fangio’s tutelage. The Eagles defensive coordinator said Graham’s experience in his defense last season gives him some reassurance that the 15-year veteran will have retained that knowledge.

Fangio wouldn’t put a number on Graham’s estimated snap count upon his return based on experience with other veteran edge rushers.

“I don’t know,” Fangio said. “Now, he’s coming out of retirement and he’s older, but when I was in Chicago, we traded for Khalil Mack, who had missed the entire training camp, and the fatigue police said, ‘Hey, he can only play about 20-22 snaps in this game’ because we got him the week of the first game. I said, ‘OK.’ He played about 45. So I don’t know.”

Sunday marked Nakobe Dean’s first defensive snaps in 280 days, dating back to the wild-card matchup against the Packers in which he suffered a patellar tendon injury in his knee.

Dean had a busy afternoon. He played 31 defensive snaps (45%) at inside linebacker alongside Zack Baun.

Entering the game, Fangio said he had planned for Dean to solely take snaps at inside linebacker when the Eagles were in base defense. In nickel, Jihaad Campbell would replace him. However, Fangio adjusted that plan in-game, keeping Dean at inside linebacker in nickel for select plays and moving Campbell to the edge, a role the rookie had filled in select packages throughout the season.

“I think he got about 30 plays, which I think was a good number, and the way they came was good, too,” Fangio said of Dean. “It wasn’t like he had 10 in a row, I don’t think. And I thought he did well. And I think we did the right thing in not playing him the week before, even though we technically could have.”

» READ MORE: Can the return of Brandon Graham fill the leadership void on the Eagles defense?

Fangio said Dean did not play defensively the previous week against the Giants because he didn’t have enough practice time.

“It would’ve been negligent on our part to put him out there without practice,” Fangio said.

Campbell, the Eagles’ top pick out of Alabama, ended up playing 60 snaps (87%) on Sunday. That broke down to 32 at inside linebacker and 28 on the edge, according to Pro Football Focus. He generated just one quarterback pressure from the edge alignment, according to Next Gen Stats, on five pass rushes.

“It’s new out there, particularly the packages he was going up there earlier were different than this week, this past game,” Fangio said of Campbell. “So there’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot to get comfortable with. The more he’s up there, the better he’ll get at it.”

The Eagles saw continued movement at their second outside cornerback spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell when Adoree’ Jackson (concussion) left the Vikings game in the third quarter.

Kelee Ringo took Jackson’s place, but he didn’t fare as well. Before exiting the game, Jackson had allowed just one reception for 11 yards, according to PFF. Ringo conceded three for 47 yards, including a 25-yarder to wide receiver Jordan Addison in the fourth quarter on a drive that sputtered in the red zone.

Still, Fangio said Ringo did “fine” when he was called to action.

“Some of the completions he’s given up, not all of them, but some of them have come on tough routes,” Fangio said. “So still think he can eventually be better than he’s been. His opportunities will keep coming, probably, and hopefully he’ll turn the corner.”

Another opportunity for Ringo to play could come against the Giants if Jackson isn’t cleared to return by then. But he might not be the only candidate for the job. Corner Jakorian Bennett, who has been on injured reserve with a pectoral ailment since late September, is eligible to have his 21-day practice window opened this week.

The 5-foot-10, 200-pound Bennett was acquired from the Las Vegas Raiders during training camp in exchange for defensive tackle Thomas Booker. He saw limited action through three regular-season games, playing just 24 defensive snaps in spot duty.

Fangio said his assessment of Bennett preinjury was “incomplete” because he didn’t play enough. He also hesitated to define his precise role upon his eventual return to the active roster.

“He hasn’t practiced,” Fangio said. “You can’t practice when you’re on IR. So once we open up his window and get him on the practice field, see where he’s at, I can answer that better. But, obviously, he’s a guy we’ll take a hard look at.”