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Last year, two of the premier tight ends from the 2010 draft got long-term deals. Neither is named Jimmy Graham.

For now, it looks like Graham won’t be getting a new deal this year, either.

Per a league source, the Saints and Graham currently are not talking. And there’s no indication that they will.

In 2012, the Patriots were able to entice tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez to take long-term deals that paid much more than what they were due to make over the balance of their four-year rookie deals. And if the Saints had offered such a deal to Graham last year, maybe he would have been inclined to bite.

Now, Graham is a year away from free agency. As he gets closer to completing his rookie deal, Graham will want something closer to market value.

And while the Saints have the luxury of the franchise tag, a fight could be looming over whether Graham should be tagged as a tight end or a receiver. In the end, the level will be determined by where he lines up the majority of the time in 2013.

Regardless of Graham’s official position, it’s easy to argue that he should be paid like a top receiver.

No talks between Saints, Jimmy Graham | ProFootballTalk

Danno

We're simply showing him the front office version of "dropping the ball".

Oh, by the way, did anyone realize we're 20 friggin million over the cap right now?

triman

Lots more to worry about now. FO has a plan in place he isn't going anywhere

ChrisXVI

Just like people started speculating that Drew might be signed elsewhere last summer... Jimmy isn't going anywhere. We'll lock him up with a nice fat contract at the end of the season and make him more than happy.

saintsfan403

What a redundant article, this is probably the same idiot source who said payton was leaving to Dallas and the brees' contract would never get done.

Seer1

Nothing to see here folks. Please keep moving. He'll be taken care of when the time comes.

Jamessr

doesn't he have 1 or 2 years left on his current contract? I thought this was a issue for next year.

Rugby Saint II

That's what worries me. Loomis has this habit of putting players in the position to play for a contract year. Then they do sign Big Fat contracts that have us up against the salary cap every year.
Jimmie had his share of drops and we can all say well he was hurt. But that seems to become a problem because these players play when hurt and under perform.
I kinow he'll find a way to pull it off at the last minute but it still makes me nervous. Especially when we over pay for these guys based on their potential and then we don't coach these guys up. We give them a long contract and don't get full value for them.jmho

jeanpierre

The Graham contract and the salary cap room is a very serious issue...

...CAA Sports (same group as Brees) will probably have Jimmy Sexton on point for his negotiations...

The Dude

Well I do think his price went down after the season he just had, hurt wrist aside. Which I guess is good for us if we do get him signed this year. I think JG is one of those guys who truly will take a hometown discount to stay with the Saints, and more specifically Brees. He mentioned some time back he would not play for another QB and would retire when Brees does. How much of that was just the talk of a bright eyed rookie glad to be in the game I don't know. Hopefully after a couple of years in his ego hasn't inflated like most players do.