N/S Jimmy Graham Tweet (1 Viewer)

[Saint Droopy]

Graham could have been the best TE in history had he stayed here with the numbers he was putting up. And if we're being honest... we haven't been able to fill that void at TE since he left. Ben Watson and to an extent... Jared Cook had solid years but Graham was putting up crazy numbers.

His ego got in the way.

 

[busdriver]

Graham could have been the best TE in history had he stayed here with the numbers he was putting up.

Bump

 

[sammymvpknight]

I know that people like to argue that the trade was either a win in the favor of the Saints or a win-win scenario. I disagree. I think that it was a lose-lose. Unger was an average center while he was here and Stephone Anthony was a complete bust. The Saints lost a playmaker that worked very well in their system.

At the same time, the Seahawks didn't know how to utilize Graham and was really hurt by the subtraction of Unger (even though he was average). The only good thing about this trade for the Seahawks is that they got a 4th round pick, which turned into Tyler Lockett.

 

[rsmith2783]

I know that people like to argue that the trade was either a win in the favor of the Saints or a win-win scenario. I disagree. I think that it was a lose-lose. Unger was an average center while he was here and Stephone Anthony was a complete bust. The Saints lost a playmaker that worked very well in their system.

At the same time, the Seahawks didn't know how to utilize Graham and was really hurt by the subtraction of Unger (even though he was average). The only good thing about this trade for the Seahawks is that they got a 4th round pick, which turned into Tyler Lockett.

I agree with what you mentioned, but I wouldn't call Unger average. Was he worth Jimmy Graham? No, but if that 1st round pick would have turned out to be great, then we might feel better about it in hindsight.

 

[The Moose]

Well then we shouldn't have paid him at all, but we still did. You know why? Because there were plenty of teams in the league that would have paid him the same based on his production at the time. Hell, a team traded their best lineman and a first round pick for him.

He was one of the premiere weapons in the league at the time. If you don't think he was worth it, then you're basically saying Loomis was willing to pay Jimmy Graham way more than the market value, which we both know isn't true. The amount of revisionist history on SR regarding Jimmy Graham is mind boggling.

Ok whatever.

Yes he was paid like the best TE in the league. I was fine with that I was fine with his piss poor blocking at that price for the production.

Yep and the saints made out like a bandit getting rid of him.

Considering he in essence vanished off of the face of the Earth except for red zone targets after he left says leaps and bounds of his worth without scheme and QB.

His contract year was never reproduced. 16 TDs nope 1200 yards nope was never close to that ever again never got 1000 or more than 10 tds ever again heck he only had 2 hundred yard games for the Seahawks!

He is the exact opposite of what CGM is.


The player he was in his contract year was a Hof player. He got paid and became a better than average TE and they were smart to ship him away.

 

[The Moose]

I know that people like to argue that the trade was either a win in the favor of the Saints or a win-win scenario. I disagree. I think that it was a lose-lose. Unger was an average center while he was here and Stephone Anthony was a complete bust. The Saints lost a playmaker that worked very well in their system.

At the same time, the Seahawks didn't know how to utilize Graham and was really hurt by the subtraction of Unger (even though he was average). The only good thing about this trade for the Seahawks is that they got a 4th round pick, which turned into Tyler Lockett.

The thing everyone here is forgetting is his post paid production dropped like a rock.

Not gonna look it up for you i know he had about the same number of catches and way less yards like under 900 and had only 10 TDs.

So that had as much to do with it as anything.

Yep the value they got in player and pick was great the selection was not great.

 

[sammymvpknight]

The thing everyone here is forgetting is his post paid production dropped like a rock.

Not gonna look it up for you i know he had about the same number of catches and way less yards like under 900 and had only 10 TDs.

So that had as much to do with it as anything.

Yep the value they got in player and pick was great the selection was not great.

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.

 

[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.

To put into perspective on how good Jimmy was as a saints player look up the kid from the 49ers.

Best in the game right now by leaps and bounds he puts up Jimmy numbers in yards and targets but can't find the end zone. Most he ever had was 5.

Now that dude can block!

 

[bclemms]

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.

I don't know, I think he had already started dropping off when he was with the Saints. In his last 20 games with the Saints he only had 1 game with 100 yards receiving. In the 20 games prior to that he had 5 games with 100+. That final season he was with us we had a stretch against 3 physical defenses in the Ravens, Bengals and Panthers. The first two games he was overwhelmed physically, by the time that third game came around he was checked out, whiffing blocks, not even trying to get off jams. The biggest problem with Jimmy Graham is he came out of Miami as a 24 year old rookie that was still a project. A year later he finally put it together in the perfect system for him and a couple good years before he got all caught up in social movements and identified himself as a WR. He waisted 2 years of his prime being angry and when you have a 6'7 frame that tends to hurt longevity. He was always destined to have a short career as a high impact player but he made it even shorter and I'm sure he'll regret it the rest of his life.

 

[ynot]

I know that people like to argue that the trade was either a win in the favor of the Saints or a win-win scenario. I disagree. I think that it was a lose-lose. Unger was an average center while he was here and Stephone Anthony was a complete bust. The Saints lost a playmaker that worked very well in their system.

At the same time, the Seahawks didn't know how to utilize Graham and was really hurt by the subtraction of Unger (even though he was average). The only good thing about this trade for the Seahawks is that they got a 4th round pick, which turned into Tyler Lockett.

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

 

[sfidc3]

I agree with what you mentioned, but I wouldn't call Unger average. Was he worth Jimmy Graham? No, but if that 1st round pick would have turned out to be great, then we might feel better about it in hindsight.

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....

 

[Zztop]

The only thing I didn't like about the trade was first they signed him to a mega contract, then traded him, got a cap hit due to his contract and then signed Fleener, which was a bust, and so in theory they were paying "double" for both JG AND Fleener (at least for a season or two). All that $ and they couldn't replace JG. They got a center and a draft bust in the process, but I wonder if they couldn't just have gotten a center in FA vs sign/trade/massive cap hit

 

[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.