Is Jimmy Graham still a top tier Tight End?

El Caliente

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Hey guys, local Saints fan here. We are having a discussion on our Saints Forum about Jimmy Graham and the probability of him returning to the Saints. It seems that many Saints fans don't follow the Seahawks enough to give an accurate opinion of his situation, but I thought that I would bring the discussion here to the people who have watched him for the last 3 years.

My thinking is that Jimmy is still a top tier tight end, he has just had issues that were outside of his control.
1) Russ and Doug have that connection that Jimmy never got in on.
2) Seattle is run first, run often.
3) Darrell Bevell (it actually probably starts and ends here).

But what are your thoughts, is Jimmy still a top tier guy who was just misused?

Here is the Saints thread for those of you interested in reading the thoughts of others on JG.

https://saintsreport.com/forums/showthr ... 205&page=2
 

EverydayImRusselin

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Honestly it seemed quite often this year, he was disinterested. He also had a lot of drops this year at inopportune times. Having said that, he was a red zone animal. I think a change of scenery could rekindle that spark inside him that seemed to be missing.
 

original poster

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I’m itching to resign him now we have a new OC, personally.

3 year $21M-$24M deal ‘should’ get it done IMO.

He’s quite hard to evaluate, though. Pretty much non existent between the 20’s but in the red zone? A total animal. I really don’t want to go back to our red zone struggles again and fear we will if he does leave Seattle.

Despite my feelings, I’m 70% confident he will be on another team in 2018.
 

MontanaHawk05

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What most people miss is that in 2016, he was the reverse of his 2017 self - animal between the 20s, fading out in the red zone.

We know he can do both. We also have a new OC who may or may not misuse him. I personally hope he's back.

As far as "disinterested", nobody can telepathically glean what his attitude was.

That said, I imagine some other team that's less focused on running will probably snatch him up and pay him more than we're able to. But I hope not.
 

adeltaY

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I think he's still elite in the RZ, but he seemed slower than last year. Not sure if it was due to disinterest/frustration or athletic decline. He was frequently on the injury report so he might also have been hurt.

We barely used him between the 20s. That's a combination of him not being open, drops, and scheme.
 

Cyrus12

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Red zone threat mostly at this point. We need a guy that can block. As stated above lots of drops and is soft for his size.
 

Scorpion05

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I guess the question boils down to do we want a Zach Ertz/Travis Kelce kind of TE. Someone who's not a beast in the endzone but can still contribute to a potent offense with run blocking and route running? Or do we want an Antonio Gates/Jimmy Graham kind of TE that can post up players and is unstoppable in the Red zone
 

seahawkfreak

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MontanaHawk05":r87c99yr said:
What most people miss is that in 2016, he was the reverse of his 2017 self - animal between the 20s, fading out in the red zone.

We know he can do both. We also have a new OC who may or may not misuse him. I personally hope he's back.

As far as "disinterested", nobody can telepathically glean what his attitude was.

That said, I imagine some other team that's less focused on running will probably snatch him up and pay him more than we're able to. But I hope not.

Body language says a lot.
 

Jerhawk

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I'd prefer to let him walk, and draft a tight end.

Let the team get that comp pick.

We need to establish a running game, and Graham wouldn't help with that imo. He can go back to New Orleans and put up nice stats again.
 

Seymour

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seahawkfreak":1xkqcr9p said:
MontanaHawk05":1xkqcr9p said:
What most people miss is that in 2016, he was the reverse of his 2017 self - animal between the 20s, fading out in the red zone.

We know he can do both. We also have a new OC who may or may not misuse him. I personally hope he's back.

As far as "disinterested", nobody can telepathically glean what his attitude was.

That said, I imagine some other team that's less focused on running will probably snatch him up and pay him more than we're able to. But I hope not.

Body language says a lot.

+1.
As does 2nd in the NFL in drops.

Graham is done here, so don't anyone get too attached. If you want a run game, you don't spend $10M on a TE that refuses to block.
 

hawknation2018

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Jimmy Graham should be playing Split End and Slot exclusively in this offense. He should NEVER be asked to pass block as an in-line blocker.

If that is possible, then re-sign him. If not, then let him go to a team that knows how to use him effectively.
 

chris98251

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We don't need to draft a TE, Willson is almost a clone of Graham, not a great blocker but a receiver, Vannett was already drafted and should be ready to step up, Swoopes is a player I would like to see more of, seems to like the physical aspect, can run, catch and anyone can block better the Graham. We will surely bring in some FA's as well. and we just got a lot more cap relief.

10 touchdowns was nice, but there is another 80 yards of field he has to play on and have that same concentration, much like Alexander, fall down and curl from our end zone to the opponents 20, dynamic back from the red zone to the goal line.
 

hawknation2018

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We NEED a solid blocking TE. That has been largely missing since Zach Miller retired. It has effected the run game and pass protection.

There are some good BLOCKING TEs that can be had for close to the vet minimum, i.e. Troy Niklas.
 

endzorn

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I hope he gets a MASSIVE deal on the market. Hopefully a team overvalues him and we get a nice comp pick. I think the Jimmy ship has sailed so I hope we get something of value in return.

What I really want is another devastating run blocking tight end who can also give us 25-30 receptions. I wanted Seattle to draft George Kittle last year, but San Fran got him. Maybe we can locate someone this season and concentrate on pounding the rock again.
 

chris98251

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Vannett is suppose to be that type of TE, now is it because Bevell didn't use him or Cable we don't know, but we drafted him for blocking and as stated the staff was really surprised about how good his hands actually were.
 

hawknation2018

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chris98251":3lc783ga said:
Vannett is suppose to be that type of TE, now is it because Bevell didn't use him or Cable we don't know, but we drafted him for blocking and as stated the staff was really surprised about how good his hands actually were.

Vannett is a pretty good receiver and a decent blocker who will never dominate the line of scrimmage. He didn't really start to learn how to block at Ohio State until his senior season. If you watched him play earlier in his college career, he was as bad a blocker as Luke Willson. Like Willson, he started to develop those blocking skills later on, while still coming from a receiver-first mindset. As far as why the team touted Vannett's blocking, that is anyone's guess. I agree that Vannett makes Willson's skill set redundant. However, I think we still could use a stronger blocking TE on the roster.
 

Sports Hernia

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As a catching TE with a coordinator that isn’t brain dead, hell yes!!!!!!
“I’m Jimmy” isn’t a good blocking TE and our dunce of an OC knew this coming in and still misused him.

I think he lights it up whether it’s here (not likely) or somewhere else.
He is a physical mismatch that Seattle refused to use properly.
 

IndyHawk

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I think RW and him simply do not connect..Yes there was good RZ TD's this year finally
but how many plays did we see RW throw low or behind him?
I think him and Brees go well together and he would do great back in NO.
We need picks and lower cap hits.
We also need a blocking TE for sure so bye bye JG(not his fault)
 

adeltaY

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Scorpion05":3nckbun2 said:
I guess the question boils down to do we want a Zach Ertz/Travis Kelce kind of TE. Someone who's not a beast in the endzone but can still contribute to a potent offense with run blocking and route running? Or do we want an Antonio Gates/Jimmy Graham kind of TE that can post up players and is unstoppable in the Red zone

Aren't Kelce and Ertz not that great as blockers, but are fantastic receivers? I know Ertz was lighting it up in the RZ when Wentz was healthy. Kelce was a monster receiver this year too.
 
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