The Graham trade would have been great but for two things that shared the same problem: he was underutilized at his strengths. Play calling for him was atrocious. And even when they did kinda figure out how to use him in the red zone, we steadfastedly refused to utilize the same concepts for 3rd and >5 yards. There’s probably a Venn diagram overlap shaped like an overinflated football with this problem and the second. Me3’s aversion to throwing to receivers who weren’t two steps open. Jimmy’s size, hands, and box out skills were his strengths. Like Moss, he didn’t need to be “open” to catch the ball. Mighty Mouse just spent so much time not throwing receivers open and then pulling magic out of his ass on the scramble drill. And then when they’d do it successfully a few times, they’d just forget it for games at a time (see also:quick slant or any other quick pass, especially on short yardage downs).
The Graham trade was a good trade, it was just fumbled by the QB and OC. A good trade costs a lot. I of course prefer larcenous trades like a 4th for Beastmode or the ME3 Bonanza, but the JG trade was a good call and absolutely should have worked.
Harvin was a bad trade for a diva player. I hate that he has one of our best SB highlights, but it isn’t as bad as Stevens having our first SB TD in history.
I’m not mad about Adams. We needed some spine in our D at the time and a big play artist. He had no injury history and hit like a truck. I chalk it up to bad luck that he’s had successive injuries but they all occurred because he put 100% of his effort on the field abd he played through even more. What’s inexcusable was not having a backup plan last year for if he got injured again now that they knew he was getting hurt a lot.
