Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Well, Season is over, Decisions to Be Made...

Biggest Decision is what to do with Jimmy Graham...

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

What to do?

Sign him. Pay him #1 Tight End money (not #1 WR money).

He's young, uber-talented with a mountain of upside.

Plus Drew Brees will be here for another 4 years.

No brainer.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Surprised this is even a question.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

They won't. Tom Condon is his agent IIRC sooooooo look for a long, drawn out "negotiation" this offseason. I'm basically not watching ESPN after the draft.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Wow, didn't know Condom was his agent. Well, good by then. He's great if your a player, but he's a team killer.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

We'll make him the highest paid tight end in the league. We have no choice. We can critique his technique as a TE all we want, but we can't let his productivity get away. I'm guessing a contract that averages $8 million per year.

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You know there is always that team that is willing to way overpay for him, don't leave Jimmy!

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LOL - Customer, 'hawk fan, sent me this video and said we should send this video to Condon...

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Should he be moved to WR permanently? The guy is an awful TE...

He was a huge disappointment at the end of the season and I think the word is out on how to cover him. I don't see him being nearly as effective for the rest of his career. Put your most physical player on him in press man coverage and he is done. I am not a DC but it seems pretty simple to take him out of the game.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

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What happens if the Saints decide to franchise Jimmy Graham? - CBSSports.com

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

I agree that he is a terrible TE... But the real problem is that our best receiver is a tight end. Maybe acquiring some tough and physical WR's who can handle press man coverage would take some of the heat off of Jimmy.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

If I were a DC that is what I would do. If he wants the big money he was needed to show up every game and produce, he did not. After seeing him looking for flags instead of being aggressive and fighting for positioning and the ball it made me look at him a totally different way. For a 6"5 260 lb. man that can't block and get man-handled the way he has been, it's easy to say let him go or take a much lesser amount to stay. He might not have as much success playing somewhere else anyway. Brees has made most of them look better than what they are. Lets see how well he would do in Jacksonville or any team that has a less than top 15 qb. A product of the system.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

I am of the shocking and scandalous, some would say blasphemous opinion.

I say tag him, sign him, and then TRADE him. We desperately need picks and players to build a younger/faster/stronger/cheaper team. As much as I love him, we've won without him before. He's turned our offense into a one trick pony. The cumulative lack of picks because of Bountygate/Ingram has decimated the team's ability to rebuild/reload over time. We have a lot of flaws that have been exposed over the course of this season. And time is catching up with us.

I think every option except trading Drew Brees should be on the table and open to discussion. If we tagged/signed Graham and were able to convince some bottom feeder team to give us the moon for him, you'd have to take that offer seriously.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Tight End, Shmite End

1st in Touchdowns
9th (tied) in plays over 20 yards
13th in receptions just below Josh Gordon and just above Jordy Nelson,
15th in yards, just behind Vincent Jackson and Dez Bryant

That's when you compare him to wide receivers.

Against TE's he's first in every one of those categories.

He'd be a pretty good #1 wide receiver for most teams.
He's the best receiving Tight End in the League this year.

There's plenty of posts saying we need a new wide receiver, why let one of the better ones in the league go.

Offer him TE money, negotiate hard and give him the best deal you can get.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Franchise him. He'll welcome the raise. Plenty of time to get a long term deal done anyway.

Look at how loyal Payton was to Vilma and Smith. He could have easily left them out to dry..

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

To be fair, that's on Sean. Its the same with Sproles, you throw it to him as much as you do of course people will figure out how to stop it. It felt like that's the only guys getting stuff thrown at them at one point. but you really cant blame Jimmy for that. He does however need to toughen up a bit.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

His loyalty to those players only hurt the teams future... should have cut them and taken the dead money last year. Saints > players.

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Sign the the big man. Hell he.ll get better when the pay gets better. He will mature and get his head out his asre soon enough. He will get taught also after payraise to make a better effort and come back for a frickin ball like its the end of the world.

Sent from my GT-P1010 using Tapatalk 2

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

This one is hard…
He was clearly not healthy after the NE game.
And a foot injury to boot.
When healthy this guy is a game breaker.
When he's not, he's average.
Shannon Sharpe couldn't block someone on Twitter.
He's in the HOF with three titles.

I would sign Graham, but cheapest possible contract.
We need good players and he is that.

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I don't think there is a question about it, this organization will keep him. May not be the best offseason for massive contracts so probably franchise tag. I think he's a fantastic receiver that needs a lot of football work to make him a better blocker - like getting additional coaching in the offseason and perhaps mentoring from a former TE great.

After the Pats game, how was his performance? Meh! Then again he was was hurt so there you go.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

I say sign him to a contract then trade him for a 1&2 pick. I know it may sound crazy but we can do without him. Use the draft picks to beef up o line and secondary. We need to be less pass happy and become more of a physical running offense. Dam shame it took 3 years to find out Ingram can actually run.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

No decision. You sign the guy.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

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So you want to throw away Brees's top target for unknown commodities? Smart.

We used to be a heavier run team. That was before Sean Payton arrived. You know, before we started winning and going to the playoffs almost every year...

We always knew Ingram could run. He just needed to get healthy and prove it.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Offer Jimmy Graham 25M for 5 years. If he doesn't accept, let him walk. He has play at about that level this year.

Non blocking
Alligator Arms
Consumes too much of Drews focus.

There are a 1/2 dozen Jimmy Graham threads, nothing new in any of them and nothing new coming any time soon. :help:

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

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He is going to want the same as Gronkowski got and thats 9ml a year.Its cheaper to pay him that than tag him.Its steep for a TE that cant block as Gronkowski is the better all round TE though these injuries are adding up.More and more dynamic TE are comimg out of college and if Graham doesn't play ball money wise Watson can cqrry the load while a new TE gets used to the league.

8ml or so a year would seem fair but president was set by Gronks contract as it was by Brees and Manning now every two bit QB wants that.

Colston is getting 8.3ml and if Graham will sign for a low cap number this year we can save $4.3/7.8 on the cap in years 2015/16 cutting Colston who isnt getting younger.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Fine give him 6M a year.

6m/year makes him top 10 TE paid
2013 NFL Top Base Salaries - Tight End

Thats is where he preformed in the Post Season, and in regular season his Ave YPC is way out side of top 10.

Total yards/year is not a function of ability, it is function of being thrown to. Throw Ben Watson the ball 86 times and with his AVE he would have 1,023 yards and be 2nd in the NFL.

He takes what he is willing to take. I do not see him as being worth over what I stated until he stops getting shut out.

8 games this entire year with less than 50 yards.
Jimmy Graham Game By Game Stats and Performance - New Orleans Saints - ESPN

Want to call him a WR... Fine. He is out side of the top 10 WRs in total yards.
NFL Stats: by Player Position

So as a TE he can not block and as a WR he is not top 10. His Drop Rate is 6.52 which puts 19 TEs above him and 22 WRs above him.

Jimmy Graham did not play Top Money in his contract year. 6m/year. period

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I think that is to much, 5 mil is to much, could save a butt load of money and draft 1 if need be. I'm not saying your wrong by no means and I kind of under stand the market price(don't always agree with the market price) there are some good TE's in this years draft.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Graham is just an example of the "new" tight end mold. He is good, but as we have have seen, can be shut down. If his contract is going to hurt the development of the team we got to let him walk. He's not Brees (irreplaceable).

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Maybe he needs to spend a little time with Tony Gonzales this off season. He could teach how him to treat press man coverage and he might become a better blocker after he spends a little time with Gonzales. Gonzales has said in the past that he likes Graham so I don't see why he wouldn't help him. Jimmy could benefit from spending some time with the best TE to ever play the game.

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Sort of along the lines of the "new breed of QB". After a season Defenses figured it out.

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I love me some graham, however this offense has never been about one weapon except brees as he's the orchestrator. The only reason graham started to emerge is because we lost the tandem threat we had when meacham and henderson started to slow down. Offer graham good tightend money but do not even get close to top WR money.

As good as graham is, I would still take megatron, brandon marshall or even dez bryant above graham. All three are physical wideouts who can not be bullied out of a game or intimidated plus they can make the same plays imho opinion as graham if brees is throwing them the ball. I would love to keep him but not at the expense of the rest of the team. He has franchise talent but he is not a franchise player. There is a difference.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Jimmy needs to spend more time with jeremy shockey

Jimmy is twice the pure athlete shockey was but boy would shockey put a hurting on somebody if they got in his way

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

Relative to what to pay Graham, it's better to think in terms of cap hit instead of base salary. Base salaries can be misleading.

If you look at the 2014-2016 cap hits for the Top 5 TEs in the league, which Graham is arguably one, you're looking at a cap hit of roughly $8M/year.

So in my opinion, a reasonable contract for Jimmy would be very close, or slightly higher than what Jared Cook got from St. Louis last March, which was 5 years, $35.1M total, $19M guaranteed and with a $5M signing bonus. Jared Cook and Jimmy Graham essentially play the same position except that Jimmy currently outperforms Cook.

Graham will likely command at least an $8.5M annual cap hit on the open market. The Saints could get a slight home town discount but nowhere near $2M-3M/year.

JMO

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

On the open market, Jimmy Graham will command Jared Cook-like money.

Last March, the Rams signed Cook to a 5-year, $35M contract with $19M guaranteed and with a signing bonus of $5M.

That equates to an annual cap hit of $7M in 2014, $8M in both 2015 and 2016, and $8.1M in 2017.

Graham and Cook essentially play the same position and Graham is currently the better player.

Expecting Graham to re-sign with the Saints at $5M to $6M is unrealistic in my opinion.

Apologize for almost duplicate posts... connection problems.

Re: Jimmy Graham Contract
 

I am not a NFL coach.
SP is a NFL coach.
My opinion adds no value to Benson's franchise.

My opinion is Jimmy Graham remains a New Orleans Saint.

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If you look at just yards for the season. Graham finished 15th among wide receivers.

Of the recievers that finished ahead of him, 4 are still on their rookie contracts. Of the others their contracts average annually as follows

1. Josh Gordon - Rookie Contract
2. Antonio Brown - $7.17 million
3. Calvin Johnson - $18.75 million
4. Demaryus Thomas - 2.43 million
5. A.J. Green - Rookie Contract
6. Alshon Jeffery - Rookie Contract
7. Andre Johnon - 8.9 million
8. Pierre Garcon - 8.5 million
9. DeSean Jackson - 9.4 million
10. Jordy Nelson - 3.5 million
11. Brandon Marshall - 9.4 million
12. Eric Decker - .625 million
13. Des Bryant - Rookie Contract
14. Vincent Jackson - 11.1 million

That averages out to just at 8 million per year among recievers.

Among TEs, Rob Gronkowski set the benchmark at 9 million per year.

Now when you factor in Graham was number 1 in the league at touch downs and he was top 10 in plays over 20 yard. Also, the fact that he poses particular match up problems for most teams and that he's reached superstar value and will sell beaucoup merchendise. I would guess his market value in the offseason will be around 9 or 10 million per year maybe more to a team that has the money and thinks they're a TE away from the Super Bowl.

Just a wild guess though.