ScottF

true, but you know his snake of an agent is going to point to the percentage of times JG lined up as a WR and make a case
I think this one will be ugly, Drew Brees ugly

TheOak

It's been tried before but I'm not sure to what success.

And there are the HoF implications. Jimmy Graham has a fantastic chance of getting in the Hall of Fame if his career is long enough and he continues to preform as he does as a TE. There is the old duck adage, if it's paid as a WR, played as a WR, and tagged a WR..... It ain't gettin in as a TE.

We know how he is played but this is a formal tag and will change things.

ScottF

Yes, there is some precedent, someone from St. Louis last year, and I believe some LB's that wanted to be tagged as DE's. This however, will be the biggest case.
End of the day, Jimmy is in the 4th year of a rookie contract. No one could have seen how great he would become, but bottom line, he has gotten screwed. Good business, bad HR. Let's just pay him.

jeanpierre

Hey, Graham's on my FB banner, one of my favorites; but, business is business and I'd also bring up where he ranks as a wide receiver as pointed out and leading the league in drops in 2012...

But, the main thing these guys have got to understand is this -

Every available dollar under the salary cap will be spent on the entire team, but they must allow enough cap money to be available so as to have great supporting cast teammates (unlike Brees' agent, Tom Condon)...

Then, they can win Superbowls and get to the real money in Championship Endorsements, SNL Appearances & Dancing with the Stars...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

ScottF

Condon's 'teammate', BTW, is Jimmy's agent. Same company.

jeanpierre

Glad you picked up on that...

Major clients give NFL agent Tom Condon a lot of clout

lee909

I dont think Graham does get tagged,it will be cheaper to give him a deal with a decent signing bonus and push the money back a year or two

RaginCajun83

In Loomis I Trust

SaintsBro

I'm not saying it's what I want to happen, but I think it will unfold exactly llike it did with Drew -- Graham will get tagged, he will dispute the tag (this time over whether he's a WR or TE), he will appeal, it gets decided in arbitration,THEN no matter how it's decided, he signs a new deal a few days later -- as if the contract was sitting in somebody's desk drawer all along waiting for a signature after the appeal.

Did Drew's dispute over his tag, have any financial impact on the actual final deal he ultimately signed? No, not really, it didn't, because he ultimately signed a deal, not playing UNDER the tag. So the tag number didn't really matter -- it was just something they had to square away, BEFORE he could sign ANY deal.

In Graham's case, it's just too much piles of money sitting on the table for BOTH parties, to NOT dispute it and see how it comes down in arbitration. It's a business.

There are also other teams and other players, who want to know how that particular arbitration is going to play out. It will set precedents for other players on other teams facing similar situations, and his salary will set the bar for other teams and TE's and WR's to match or exceed, the same way that the Brees deal sorta led immediately to big mega deals for Flacco and Ryan.

AlaskaSaints

How many teams other than the Saints have gone to the Super Bowl without Drew Brees since we paid Drew Brees 100 mil.?

It has caused more problems that it has solved.

Alaska