AsylumGuido

Then what is the anger toward Graham? Why is there anger at all? This is nothing but business. It happens multiple times to differing degrees every year. Missing a few OTA's and a mini-camp will have zero effect on Graham's standing with the Saints. You yourself said that you understand it isn't Graham personally, so why then do you take it personally.

AsylumGuido

Oh, and who's to say that Graham isn't busting his ass, as well? When Brees was forced to miss his time with his version of the NFLPA versus the league, he worked out away from the team. Graham has been doing the same.

AsylumGuido

As I said earlier, Graham has been instructed to say nothing. Any doubt that came from the NFLPA?

jnormand

Oh for heavens sake never mind. I'm not taking it personally. I don't hate Graham. Good Lawd. I just want this over with. Im tired of hearing about the TE vs. WR BS. Dayum.

And I think the WR argument is stupid.

SaintFanInATLHELL

Um does tanner have 300 receptions and 41 TDs over the last 4 years?

Has Tanner been named an All-Pro?

I keep seeing arguments about the amount of money. But honestly if you had a chance to make more money for the work that you do because you are the absolute best at that job, and that others are willing to pay you more money, then why is it wrong to ask for it?

Relative to his production, JG has been paid crap for the last 4 years. All he has done is produce, keep his mouth shut, and play productively through a painful injury.

As I keep saying, only a fool would not file a piece of paper that has the potential to increase his salary by 30%. And only a fool would sign a contract before knowing the outcome from that filing.

Why is no one blaming the Saints here? They could have offered JG this contract extension last year and completely avoided all of this. They could have made JG the highest paid TE in the game and been done with it.

That's a rhetorical question. The reason is that the Saints are trying to maximize their value for this contract. BTW that's exactly what JG, the NFL, and the NFLPA are all trying to do.

It just seems like everyone is missing the fact that someone who is working a job/career only has to take crap wages when there are no other options. I just don't understand why everyone thinks that someone should be happy getting a raise to $9/hr from $7.25/hr instead of getting a new job on the open market that pays $11.50/hr. What exactly has the original employer done to deserve getting a $2/hr discount? Especially when they were paying you extremely low wages relative to your current worth up to the point where they had to offer the raise, or lose you to the competition? Why is unreasonable to ask your current employer to pay somewhere in the ballpark of $11.50/hr?

Multiply the rates by a million and change hour to year and that's exactly the situation Graham is in. Except that up until now he's been making $0.82/hr instead of the hypothetical $7.25/hr from the example above.

It seems like we're having this discussion as if folks have to pay for this out of their pocket. The Saints are going to be able to generate a contract that will lower their cap number for at least 3 years in a period while the cap is rising.

The frustration about this is completely non-sensical to me....

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

SaintFanInATLHELL

It probably is. Personally I don't think that lining up in the slot by definition makes you a WR.

But sometimes the only way to put such silly arguments to bed is to have them adjudicated. And there is very specific language about this in the contract between the NFLPA and the NFL.

BTW this won't be the last time we see this. OLB in the 34 wanting to be classified as DE, nickle safeties wanting to be classified as CB, and the like will pop up. A long as a player is doing the work that is typically assigned to one position and getting paid a lower salary, this issue will keep popping up.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

saintfan

Rugby Saint II

How many times did Jimmy line up within 4 yards of the tackle? As far as I know that is the area that a TE lines up. Don't quote me......I just heard that.

SaintsBro

True, true -- but you would think that the NFLPA would at least be smart enough to have Jimmy's website redesigned. I mean how much can that cost, really, to go in and fix one line of text in a website, with five million dollars on the table? Doesn't stop me from laughing at the website. It will be used against him, just like the Twitter was.

AsylumGuido

That's just one more reason why it is hard to believe any of this was Graham's idea. The NFLPA can pressure Graham to keep silent, but they cannot make him change his personal Twitter profile. Graham is a very intelligent man. If he had instigated this grievance he would have had his profile listing himself as a WR. As I have stated repeatedly, this is all the NFLPA.