Franchise tag. Play and prove you can be a complete TE and not disappear when someone gets a little physical with you. Otherwise, sit at home with nothing and get traded next offseason. Of course, that's easy for a fan to say. LOL. Loomis will do what's best for the Saints.

Franchise tag. Play and prove you can be a complete TE and not disappear when someone gets a little physical with you. Otherwise, sit at home with nothing and get traded next offseason. Of course, that's easy for a fan to say. LOL. Loomis will do what's best for the Saints.

...and that is absolutely the last thing he would let happen. Graham is not your prototypical TE. He has a special skill set that makes him a match-up nightmare. A complete TE? So you are telling me you would rather give up the best receiving production in the league over the past three years to have something a little above average that meets your blocking criteria?

And, as for someone getting a little physical, you do realize that it was arguably the two most talented, physical CB's in the NFL who were given the latitude to absolutely mug Graham throughout the two contests where he "disappeared" ... Talib and Sherman, right?

I'm respectfully going to have to call BS on that. There simply isn't any number that applies to the TE position in the last 3 years that JG isn't #1 in.


None of those are numbers. As for Gronk, the most important number is that JG has played in 31 of the 32 last regular season games (and all the plyaoff games) while Gronk has only played in 18 of the last 32 games.

plus he has to have mismatches to succeed. Gronk can do a better job against any CB than Jimmy. Jimmy still does not have the positioning battle down just yet.

And he would kick it right back across the table, just as any reasonable person would. There are teams that will pay him $12 million right now if he were truly a free agent.

He's a 4 year veteran All-Pro NFL tight end. What happened in college is irrelevant. He's had the best 3 year run of a tight end in NFL history.

Honestly I'm so glad that Loomis is handling this. He, unlike many of the posters I've seen over the last few months, actually understands the value of his asset.

SFIAH

Pardon me, but I have to say that you, unlike many of the rest of us, do not understand the value of being an all around player. You only grasp the receiving statistics. If you think blocking doesn't matter because it isn't a stat, then you must think Loomis is an idiot for paying guys like Evans and Grubbs big money. But you already said he's smarter than the rest of us. So what do you ACTUALLY believe?

Blocking is a big part of a tight end's job, whether you think it should be or not. You also don't take into account all of the drops. The Saints, in my opinion, try too hard to MAKE him a superstar by targeting him a million times every game. Jimmy has great skills, there's no denying that, but when the ball comes your way that much you're going to put up some numbers. What separates the good from the great is the ability to take advantage of every opportunity you have. But he drops a lot of passes.

This isn't to say he isn't an elite talent, or that we're better off without him. The question is whether he should be the highest paid tight end in league history and, as of now, I don't think he deserves that title. He'll undoubtedly get it though, because contracts have very little to do with player value anymore. It's all about guys wanting the distinction of highest paid ever, and agents' unwillingness to budge on anything less.

Just ask Joe freaking Flacco.

If I were Loomis, good question: Sign and trade would be my first option. Play for tag money next. Personally a sign and trade for draft picks would be good with me. Thanks for the question.