N/S Jimmy Graham Tweet (1 Viewer)

[UFCSaint]

God forbid the man try to get as much money as he can in a job where your prime window is very small and your chances to make bank are extremely limited.

Anyone getting upset or holding vitriol towards the guy for trying to get WR money from the team is ridiculous. People that care about what players try and earn, and think they should go easy on the team and owners in anyway have fallen into the trap that the owners have set.

No one blames anyone for trying to better themselves financially. But you don't go to your new job and continually bad mouth your old one. Especially when that old one was the reason you have a name for yourself in the first place.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Unger was a good center.

The problem with the Graham trade was 1) Anthony was a bust and more importantly 2) we had to eat a crap ton of dead money. We also then had to spend a bunch of money on Coby Fleener, who was also a bust.

So yeah, we got a good center for four years, but it cost us way more than Unger's value in the end, killed the salary cap, and left us with a hole at TE outside of one good year with Watson.

Hindsight being 20/20, I think we'd have come out better just keeping Graham, eating a bit of his decline, and drafting a center like we did last year. But you can't see into the future and know that Anthony would stink and that Fleener would be a mess. Nor could we have known Unger would retire a few years earlier than we probably thought.

 

[BoNcHiE]

Unger for Jimmy Graham straight up would have been a win for us....Unger started the offensive line "re-birth" and was very good for us until injuries caught up to him...

Jimmy Graham was uber talented but I never felt he wanted to be a great player. Injuries and a lack of fierce dedication defined his career....he had HOF talent but not HOF drive....I'm glad we didn't overpay for him a few years ago....

The problem was that it wasn't Graham for Unger. It was Graham for Unger + years of big dead money + millions to pay Fleener + a new contract for Unger a year later.

Just sucking it up that we overpaid Graham by $3M a year would have been a lot less painful long term. But it is what it is.

 

[sfidc3]

The problem was that it wasn't Graham for Unger. It was Graham for Unger + years of big dead money + millions to pay Fleener + a new contract for Unger a year later.

Just sucking it up that we overpaid Graham by $3M a year would have been a lot less painful long term. But it is what it is.

But long term, it worked out....and if memory serves Ben Watson did just fine as JG's replacement....

 

[rsmith2783]

But long term, it worked out....and if memory serves Ben Watson did just fine as JG's replacement....

I think he was ok, but wasn't the same threat that Graham was. Like Bonchie mentioned, we could have drafted a Center. This is not to take away from Unger or anything, but we've been looking for a good TE since.

 

[BoNcHiE]

But long term, it worked out....and if memory serves Ben Watson did just fine as JG's replacement....

"Worked out" is relative. We crippled the team with the salary cap in part because of that trade and it cost us any chance to compete in 2015/2016. We didn't star to recover until 2017 and we had a big hole at TE that season and one of the worst 3rd down conversion rate of the Payton era.

Ben Watson had one good year during a 7-9 season and then left (the other years Watson was here, he had 230 yards and 176 yards).

I'm not saying we didn't get anything in return, just that in hindsight, the value wasn't there and I think we'd have done better to just live with Graham not being as good as we thought. We never even attempted to draft a center, so that path wasn't tried. We see how McCoy has turned out once we finally bit the bullet.

 

[sfidc3]

"Worked out" is relative. We crippled the team with the salary cap in part because of that trade and it cost us any chance to compete in 2015/2016. We didn't star to recover until 2017 and we had a big hole at TE that season and one of the worst 3rd down conversion rate of the Payton era.

Ben Watson had one good year during a 7-9 season and then left (the other years Watson was here, he had 230 yards and 176 yards).

I'm not saying we didn't get anything in return, just that in hindsight, the value wasn't there, even if we are just talking about the salary cap issues.

Maybe not but to me bringing in Unger started the resurgence of the offensive line, it was a turning point that wound up paying off long term....

 

[BoNcHiE]

Maybe not but to me bringing in Unger started the resurgence of the offensive line, it was a turning point that wound up paying off long term....

That's fair. I'd only say that it may have been possible to start that resurgence by drafting a center or signing a FA, keeping Graham, and not wasting all that dead money + Fleener's deal.

But, I also know that had that 1st rounder turned into a stud, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Anthony being a bust was a major reason we got less value than we should have.

 

[sfidc3]

That's fair. I'd only say that it may have been possible to start that resurgence by drafting a center or signing a FA, keeping Graham, and not wasting all that dead money + Fleener's deal.

But, I also know that had that 1st rounder turned into a stud, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Anthony being a bust was a major reason we got less value than we should have.

Agreed, I was actually shocked that Anthony busted, so much ability....but as we know that only takes you so far....

 

[sammymvpknight]

Sorry but I disagree, Unger was a great Center for years.

Pretty meh. If I wasn't told he was a pro bowl center, I would have never noticed the difference. He's not as good as Erik McCoy, pretty confident on that one.

 

[The Moose]

I think that it had more to do with the system than it did with Jimmy Graham. I suppose he would had dropped off a little for us but I still think that he would have been significantly more valuable as a Saint than a Seahawk player.

No dude was talking his last season under his new contract.

His contract year was all world. Over 12k yards and 16 TDs.

He never sniffed those numbers ever again even on the saints.

So the drop off is why he was shipped out.

 

[Meachemdat]

Unger was a monster run blocker. See our o-line in 2017-2018. We imposed our will running the ball.

Jesus it still makes me angry that Murray road the pine the whole game..........Bah

 

[nelopiceral1]

If you look at the header on his Twitter profile, it says 'Commercial Helicopter Pilot' but doesn't make any mention of football.

Jimmy Graham (@TheJimmyGraham) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Jimmy Graham (@TheJimmyGraham). ? commercial helicopter Pilot - Business Inquiries: contact@thejimmygraham.com. Miami, FL

twitter.com

 

[dutar76]

No dude was talking his last season under his new contract.

His contract year was all world. Over 12k yards and 16 TDs.

He never sniffed those numbers ever again even on the saints.

So the drop off is why he was shipped out.

12k yards? WOW!!! lol jk.

He had one heck of a last season here with us didn't he? That pick-your-poison 1-2 punch with Jimmy and Sproles was deadly.

We could have had that with Cook and Kamara (with the added nuke of Mike Thomas) if Cook wouldn't have started the season slow and AK would've been 100%. Matter of fact, I believe that was the plan coming in to the 2019 season.