So we are at t minus 72 hours until the 7/15 3pm deadline.
No appeal yet from JG and his straight from hell agent.

Are they going to appeal in the 11th hour?
Is Jimmy going to sign and be come the highest paid TE, and be happy about it?
Or, is he going to play under the tag?

Actual question for the smarter members of the group: if JG plays under the 1 year tag, when can we start negotiating again?

I would stand pat right where I was and if doesn't sign so be it. We wont have as much cap work to do next year when Jordan and Hicks want money. Jordan is going to command a top salary and deservedly so.

First of all, let's address your first major misconception. For some reason you identify Graham with drops. Let's looks at a few facts.

In 2013 Graham was targeted 143 times and was credited with THREE drops (2.1%). That was the most targets in the entire NFL with a drop percentage as low as 2.1% or lower. The next closest was Alshon Jeffery at 3.4%. Others with far worse drop percentages included AJ Green, Julio Jones, Anquan Boldin, Vernon Davis, Josh Gordon, Calvin Johnson, Roddy White, Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas, Reggie Wayne, Stevie Johnson, Miles Austin, etc!!!!

That my friend is a fact!

Now on to blocking. Graham is not recognized by experts as a bad blocker. He is simply not called upon in Payton's offensive scheme to be a blocker. You speak of being a "well rounder TE". A well rounded TE is one that does not excel at anything, but can perform well at all disciplines. I have used this example before ... Deion Sanders. Sander is widely recognized as the best cornerback in NFL history and he could not tackle worth a crap. Under your understanding of "value" a "well rounded" CB would be worth more than Sanders any day.

Oh, and the last time I looked, Grubbs and Evans are offensive guards whose sole duty is blocking.

You, sir, have shown me nothing that supports your view that Graham should not be the highest paid TE in the league when the rest of the civilized world feels he should.

I'm sorry, but your credibility level is currently in the red and sinking lower each and every time you hit "Submit Reply".

Your opinion could not possibly be more meaningless to me. You don't like what I have to say? Stop reading. I don't like what you have to say, but I don't reply to every thread you post in to tell you what a sanctimonious jerk you are. But now that I got that out of the way, let's address your dumb comments.

First off, I never said he was a bad blocker, though he surely isn't a good one. I recognize the scheme he is used in. He isn't used in blocking schemes because he's not a proficient enough blocker when we need to pick up some yards on the ground. That makes us more predictable. Just as was the case with the overuse of screens when Sproles was in the game. Guys like Gronkowski (as much as I hate to give him any credit) and Gonzalez when he was in his prime either have been or still are THE top receivers on their teams and yet they were able to stay on the field for running plays.

So don't give me that crap about the system he plays in... Back to the original reason that I even brought up blocking was that the person I replied to said that things like blocking aren't numbers. Which brought me to the point of saying that if blocking doesn't matter because it's not a number than why did we pay some much on Grubbs and Evans? Why not just pay them the minimum? It's obvious sarcasm, as we all understand the importance of linemen, and we should at the same time understand the importance of every player doing what it takes to win. Blocking is not the primary job of Jimmy Graham or Marques Colston or any other skill position, but it most certainly matters whether or not you can do it, and do it well. That was the point. But obviously you missed that and chose to go the 5 year old, captain obvious route and point out that Grubbs and Evans are paid to block... Genius.

And finally, I don't know who compiled those stats on drops but they obviously have a lot of requirements to constitute what they consider to be a drop. If you have any kind of decent chance to make the catch, you need to make the catch. I saw him drop many balls in traffic that other receivers on our team would have caught. There is no way in hell that he dropped only 3 passes. I'm not about to be the only person who recognizes that. He can make great catches, and as I've said before, he is the most TALENTED receiving tight end in the league. If you want to make him the highest paid TE based on that, that's you. I would rather see him be more consistent. He has the raw numbers when you just look at season stats, but he tends to disappear at really bad times.

It's not unlike the opinions of most on Tony Romo. We can look at raw numbers all day long and argue that he's worth all this money, but where are you when it matters the most? I'd like to think Jimmy can make that next step and I'm not in any way suggesting that he won't. But this isn't about the future. It's about what I've seen up to this point.

The cap will not be an issue at all next year. It will be increasing by approximately $10 million and any deal Loomis makes with Jordan and Hicks will have a minimal hit in years one and two. It will also be about time to extend Brees' deal, thus freeing up additional cap. We are in very good shape moving forward.