So, in listening to Pete's last interview with Softy, a comment came up that really intrigued me.
Pete basically said that NO never asked Graham to block, and he was split out wide almost 65% of the time. Coupled with how much they throw the ball, Jimmy just wasn't asked to block.
Pete also mentioned that Jimmy has stated he's willing to block and that they will coach him up to be a better blocker.
NO's use of Graham just could be a scheme thing, plus he was very effective split out wide. Athletically, he's similar to Dorial Green Beckham, the WR in the draft that is a head case, but is so athletic and big that everyone is drooling over him and projecting him in the first round even though he didn't even play football last year. Graham is 6'7", 265 lbs and runs a 4.56 forty. DGB is 6'5", 230 lbs and ran a 4.49. Not a big difference.
Also, Seattle can probably coach the desire to block into Graham, using scheme. Imagine Graham split out wide, then blocking for either Lynch or Wilson on the RO, or blocking for a WR. Graham would be blocking secondary players. You can give him the "want to" by getting him to realize that he can start to hit all these guys that have been hitting him back, and breaking him into blocking with smaller players.
I found it interesting in that the general consensus seems to be that Graham can't block, or won't because he's soft. That seems to not be the case from what Pete was saying.
Pete basically said that NO never asked Graham to block, and he was split out wide almost 65% of the time. Coupled with how much they throw the ball, Jimmy just wasn't asked to block.
Pete also mentioned that Jimmy has stated he's willing to block and that they will coach him up to be a better blocker.
NO's use of Graham just could be a scheme thing, plus he was very effective split out wide. Athletically, he's similar to Dorial Green Beckham, the WR in the draft that is a head case, but is so athletic and big that everyone is drooling over him and projecting him in the first round even though he didn't even play football last year. Graham is 6'7", 265 lbs and runs a 4.56 forty. DGB is 6'5", 230 lbs and ran a 4.49. Not a big difference.
Also, Seattle can probably coach the desire to block into Graham, using scheme. Imagine Graham split out wide, then blocking for either Lynch or Wilson on the RO, or blocking for a WR. Graham would be blocking secondary players. You can give him the "want to" by getting him to realize that he can start to hit all these guys that have been hitting him back, and breaking him into blocking with smaller players.
I found it interesting in that the general consensus seems to be that Graham can't block, or won't because he's soft. That seems to not be the case from what Pete was saying.