Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham built his reputation on catching passes, not blocking. Graham is exaggerating a bit, but he’s embraced a different role than the one he had in New Orleans where he was an oversized wideout.
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“I think a lot of double- and triple-tight end sets for us are really going to start to come out this year”, Graham said. But letting him go shows just how down to the dime teams have to play with their cap space. “But it is going to be done”. Just two years ago, in fact, when he signed an extension heading into the 2013 season that was more lucrative than anyone expected.
Graham’s 355 catches and 46 touchdowns overall are the most by a tight end in the league since 2011.
Though he reported to camp, he told reporters Friday he hoped to work out some new arrangement with the team. Blocking was rarely a priority with the Saints because of their pass-happy offense led by Drew Brees.
Ah, but Graham has 38 catches inside the red zone the last three seasons.
In June, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said the Seahawks’ two-tight-end formation is one of his favorites because of the hard choices it forces defenses to make. “But also in the pass, play-action is going to be pretty fantastic”. Graham has spent time learning Seattle’s scrambling rules and where exactly he needs to get on the field when Wilson gets out of the pocket. This offense, from what I’ve seen on film, when they’re special, obviously it’s when they’re running the ball. “And for me, I love it, because normally I’m the biggest guy on the field so hopefully I draw the most attention from him”.
The 28-year-old Pro Bowler was surprisingly dealt from the New Orleans Saints to the Seattle Seahawks during the offseason, which is a move that should help Graham in terms of pursuing a championship but isn’t likely to do him any favors as a fantasy football asset.
Graham isn’t winning at everything with the Seahawks.
(On any basketball challenges in the team meeting room) “Yeah, I lost today”.
Graham already calls his quarterback “Russ”.
“I felt like Shaq shooting”. So yeah I actually lost today.
“You can see there’s some difficulty in it”, Carroll said, addressing the topic of extensions in general and not Chancellor in particular.
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