Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

Could it be Sean|Drew know something you don't? I don't know. What I know is, the last couple years, Graham has not been exactly a deadly weapon. The injuries, the drops, and the disappearances in big games... the stats may be there, but stats only win games in fantasy football.

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

Drew's numbers are still top shelf.
Our problem is defense. we couldn't even stop a clock.
Payton's offense is plug and play, we will be OK on that side of the ball.
We have to figure out how to get our defense off the field on 3rd and 17,
how to find some corners that can actually look over their shoulder while running,
how to actually wrap-and-roll and make tackles.
There goes four(4) additional wins right there.
Graham did his job while he was here. Thank you Jimmy!
Next man step up. PLEASE.

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

I'm curious to hear from Jimmy... I'm sure he's probably livid and waiting to calm down a little.

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

Great move, total shocker, but great trade.

Drew has made Jimmy and he will make the next big body TE look just as good.

Man I hate it was Seattle though. On the other hand, I may be glad it was Seattle if we get to play them in the NFCCG, because we all no know Jimmy tends to disappear in the big ones.

Thanks for the time Jimmy and good luck.

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

Nothing. For the short term by adding Unger, the interior O-line now has in Lelito a solid backup for all three guard/center positions.

Unger (when healthy) is a proven All-Pro center. If he works out, it's definitely an upgrade.
There's an age difference. Goodwin was a probowl center during his first stint with us. He was a shell of his former self last year. Unger is younger and his best year was just two years ago.Folks keep making the mistake of comparing last year (2013) to this year (2014). After the 2013 season JG was coming off an All-Pro year where he scored the most TD in the league. There was some question then because of the foot injury, but short of getting the 2 first round picks, there was little the team could do but make a deal on the contract and hope that Graham's production would match it.

In 2014 it didn't happen. JG busted his shoulder and ended up spending a lot of time on decoy duty. Even though it was 85 catches, nearly 1000 yards, and 9 TDs, it wasn't production that matched the previous 2 years, or production that matched the contract. Also it was clear when JG wasn't available that other parts of the offense functioned pretty well.

In short JG was a much better player after the 2013 season than he was after the 2014 season. So the trade value would have to be higher when he was tagged. And clearly, no one wanted to pay the price that would both add sufficient value to the team, and wouldn't make the Saints looks like fools. There's an old saying "No one ever gets fired for buying IBM." That was the case with JG after the 2013 season. Anything short of two first round picks would have been a bust for the Saints.

SFIAH

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

Mickey Loomis on Graham trade: We have to improve on defense | ProFootballTalk

“We’ve had a good offensive team for a number of years. We’ve been able to finish in the top four or five in offense in eight of the last nine years. We do well on that side of the ball, but we’ve got to get better on defense. There are three ways to get players in our league. That’s through free agency, it’s through the draft and then trades. We believe in using all avenues. We took one of our assets and turned it into some resources that we can hopefully improve our defense with.”

This sums up exactly why we did this. It may not be popular with some people and that's understandable but tough choices have to be made and our defensive woes are obvious.

Re: Saints Trade Graham to the Seahawks
 

The last two will be franchised. The first two will most likely sign long term deals between now and the start of training camp.

Just as we had to do last year with JG, their respective teams will do whatever it takes to keep their players.

They are not going to get into the free agent market.

Also as always I have to throw my two cents in about what I view as playing fantasy football. In the 5 years that JG was with the Saints, Brees has thrown for 25387 yards, 2450 completions, and 194 TDs in the regular season. Graham has caught 4700+ yards, 386 receptions and 51 TDs during that span. That means that over 20000 yards, 2100 receptions, and nearly 150 TDs have been thrown by Brees to someone other than Graham in the last 5 years. So why is there the instant thought process that without Graham that suddenly the offense is going to stop producing?

In the last 9 years the Saints have had a top offense virtually each and every year, with or without Graham. There's no reason to think this will not continue.

So instead of playing fantasy football, why not focus on the true problems. That would be defense, special teams, and O-line (mostly from the health perspective)?

SFIAH