Jimmy Graham

[Polk738]

I couldn't believe that one handed catch of his, what a thing of beauty-I think this is the best the passing game has looked in the beginning of the season with Russ under center.

 

[beasthawk]

Glad to see him doing so well, for a minute I thought he was a product of Saints offense. Happy I am wrong.

 

[penihawk]

Thought I would add the fact, not only is Jimmy not only a great player but also a great teammate. I hope he stays here far beyond next season.

 

[sutz]

If Jimmy helps us win a second title he can be paid elite money. He brings talent and good attitude.
JS knows a good thing when he sees it.

He's already being paid elite money.

Elite TE money. His contract kerfluffle with NO was that he wanted elite WR money, especially since he plays best split wide. His "TE" title is a bit of a formality that saves the team money. Hopefully we don't go through that here.

 

[Hawknight]

Is a Jedi.

I'll be the first to say I had my doubts about this guys coming back to play after last season. I'm eating my crow with ketchup right about now (taste like chicken..but whatever), and anyone saids he doesn't block...he laid out a nice block or two yesterday.....the one handed catch...breath taking....I would like someone at the end of the seasons do highlights of the one handed catch comparisons between him and Angry Doug....

 

[Seymour]

He'll willingly extend next year; where else can he fly his sea-plane to work?

New Orleans after another hurricane.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

I love that he's the best ball catching receiver we have on the team. But is still enough of a team player that if defenses scheme him out of the game, and someone like Kearse blows up and takes up the slack -- you don't hear a peep from Graham.

Guy can't be guarded 1 on 1. I expect teams to bracket him more. And I expect Wilson to throw to the open guys. Graham offensively is kind of like Earl Thomas. He plays like two players. And we have the ancillary parts to burn defenses who strive to shut him down with extra personnel.

He'll have quiet games in the months ahead. But his effect will resonate throughout the WR corps. And there won't be any alpha WR drama we tend to see other teams when they don't force feed him touches.

 

[bigskydoc]

Too short. Not black enough.

One thing that will work in the Seahawks favor is their stubborn insistence to keep him in to block like a traditional tight end.

In NO, the argument was that since he played more than 50% of his snaps split wide, he should be paid like a WR. That argument can't be used here in Seattle

 

[nIdahoSeahawk]

Wonder what the team does with his contract expiring after this season? Do they try to do an extension late in the season, tag him, try to re-sign and at what price point or let him walk? He may not be able to use the same argument he had with the Saints but I would imagine his agent will want compensation to be top-notch.

Keep up the good work. Glad to see him getting the production.

Keep him another year. His contract does NOT expire after this year, he's signed through 2017.

^^^^this

 

[Hawks46]

I love that he's the best ball catching receiver we have on the team. But is still enough of a team player that if defenses scheme him out of the game, and someone like Kearse blows up and takes up the slack -- you don't hear a peep from Graham.

Guy can't be guarded 1 on 1. I expect teams to bracket him more. And I expect Wilson to throw to the open guys. Graham offensively is kind of like Earl Thomas. He plays like two players. And we have the ancillary parts to burn defenses who strive to shut him down with extra personnel.

He'll have quiet games in the months ahead. But his effect will resonate throughout the WR corps. And there won't be any alpha WR drama we tend to see other teams when they don't force feed him touches.

Good post. You can really only choose to double one guy, and with Baldwin, Lockett and Richardson it's going to be hard to chose. Both Baldwin and Lockett beat most 1 on 1's, and in Richardson's rookie year, you could see teams very afraid of his deep speed. CB's were playing 10 and sometimes 15 yards off of him.

Even doubling Graham doesn't always work. There was a catch he had in the 3rd quarter where the LBer had under and a safety was over the top, and Wilson still high pointed him the ball between the two on the sidelines. He's just that dominant.

I'm honestly amazed at how well he's moving. He seems to have lost no straight line speed at all, and the only discernible prblem I can see with him is that he isn't very agile side to side yet when avoiding tackles. I'm glad he's healed up well, as I also never realized how many shots he takes to the knees and legs in a game. DB's just don't take him up high, like ever.

 

[ZagHawk]

So glad to finally have a receiver who can be contested and just take the ball. No crying for a flag, no needing to commit penalties just to get open, no balls bouncing out of his hands and possibly intercepted....

 

[scrummymustard]

If Jimmy helps us win a second title he can be paid elite money. He brings talent and good attitude.
JS knows a good thing when he sees it.

He's already being paid elite money.

Elite TE money. His contract kerfluffle with NO was that he wanted elite WR money, especially since he plays best split wide. His "TE" title is a bit of a formality that saves the team money. Hopefully we don't go through that here.

It is kind of irrelevant in terms of the franchise tag (if we were to apply it in 2018). Your tag is the higher of either the TE franchise tag (probably around 10mil by then) or 120% of your previous year cap hit.

Since he has a $10 mil cap hit in 2017, the tag would be for $12 mil in 2018 for JG.

That is a long ways away, but just an FYI.

 

[Seymour]

So glad to finally have a receiver who can be contested and just take the ball. No crying for a flag, no needing to commit penalties just to get open, no balls bouncing out of his hands and possibly intercepted....

Having the receiver is one thing, using them is another. Russell has been drilled to not force turnovers so much that he is very reluctant to do this. Last 2 games that has changed. I'd say this is the #1 factor in Jimmy getting involved to the tune of (2) 100 yard games. It's not that Jimmy is getting open more, Russ is throwing him open which he just would NOT do early on (last year).

 

[LeftHandSmoke]

from a good piece at FieldGulls
http://www.fieldgulls.com/2016/10/3/131 ... ak-fantasy

--
Graham was targeted 74 times in 11 games last season, averaging 6.72 targets per game and 8.17 yards per target. In 2014 with the Saints, Graham averaged 7.81 targets per game and 7.11 YPT. Brees was throwing to him more than Wilson was (one more target per game, woo) but with Wilson, the throws were more valuable on average. If he hadn’t gotten hurt, Graham was on pace for 107 targets last season; Rob Gronkowski was targeted 120 times in 15 games, Jason Witten was targeted 104 times in 16 games, and Ben Watson, who replaced Graham in New Orleans, was targeted 110 times.

With Seattle in 2015, Graham was averaging more yards per target, more yards per catch, and had virtually the same number of yards per game as he did with the Saints in 2014.

 

[NOLAHawk]

Jimmys only measurable downside is his jump ball. He maintains a back injury every year because of his reach. It's cool when he's in tight coverage and he wrestles the ball. It's bad when a QB tees him up for an in air hit. He just has so much surface area to rack.

His targets need to have a healthy mix of stretches as they do vertical


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SoulfishHawk]

There's not a player in the league that could truly cover him one on one. Too big, strong, fast and skilled at his position.

 

[SeaChat]

Jimmy Graham is a one in a million athlete and the Seahawks are so fortunate to have him playing for them. I'm getting to be a pretty old fart at this stage in life and I've seen a lot of great players come and go over the years, but this guy is a true stand out. Just about any other player would have called it a career and gone home last year after the injury that Jimmy experienced, and no one would have thought the less of him had he decided to do just that.
What he accomplished over the course of this last year is what has set him apart from other athletes throughout his life to date. Most athletes with that injury, no matter how badly they might have wanted to return to play again, would not have been able to, the emotional, mental and physical demand that recovery requires from a human being, is more than most could endure.
There is an almost super human drive and determination in this guys makeup, that allowed Jimmy to accomplish what he did in response to this injury. When he said he would return to play, I think that many of us suspected that he would eventually announce his retirement and ride off into the sunset.
Now I think, and maybe it's still a little to tell, but it appears to me that he is playing even better now than he did before his injury. The old saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger may very well apply here. It seem to me that once he realized he could still handle the blows from the defense, his confidence in himself fell in to place, and Lord help the defensive players who have to try and contend with guy over the remainder of his NFL career as a player. I think over the course of the next few years, he and Russell are going to achieve some really big things together. This is not to diminish the contributions that all the other members of the Seahawks elite receiving corps are doing, this is just to say that Jimmy is going to define himself as one of if not the greatest receiver of his time.
I have immense admiration and respect for who this guy is not just as a player, but for who he is as a person in general, and what a great role model for all of us.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

He's pretty good. Think we should keep him around for awhile.

Nah, shop him for a LT!!!

Noooooooo....... Convert him to an LT. Sheesh. :twisted: :stirthepot:

 

[capncrunch]

Jimmy Graham is a one in a million athlete and the Seahawks are so fortunate to have him playing for them. I'm getting to be a pretty old fart at this stage in life and I've seen a lot of great players come and go over the years, but this guy is a true stand out. Just about any other player would have called it a career and gone home last year after the injury that Jimmy experienced, and no one would have thought the less of him had he decided to do just that.
What he accomplished over the course of this last year is what has set him apart from other athletes throughout his life to date. Most athletes with that injury, no matter how badly they might have wanted to return to play again, would not have been able to, the emotional, mental and physical demand that recovery requires from a human being, is more than most could endure.
There is an almost super human drive and determination in this guys makeup, that allowed Jimmy to accomplish what he did in response to this injury. When he said he would return to play, I think that many of us suspected that he would eventually announce his retirement and ride off into the sunset.
Now I think, and maybe it's still a little to tell, but it appears to me that he is playing even better now than he did before his injury. The old saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger may very well apply here. It seem to me that once he realized he could still handle the blows from the defense, his confidence in himself fell in to place, and Lord help the defensive players who have to try and contend with guy over the remainder of his NFL career as a player. I think over the course of the next few years, he and Russell are going to achieve some really big things together. This is not to diminish the contributions that all the other members of the Seahawks elite receiving corps are doing, this is just to say that Jimmy is going to define himself as one of if not the greatest receiver of his time.
I have immense admiration and respect for who this guy is not just as a player, but for who he is as a person in general, and what a great role model for all of us.

Well said Pacific. Among other things his hands are amazing. I wonder if they are actually larger than most other receivers. The ball just looks so small in his mitts. Or mitt as the case may be. I am looking forward to him breaking a longer run after catch. The defenders have been making some good open field tackles on him but you can tell somebody is going to miss on him soon.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

What a difference a couple of good games make on this board.