Report: Jimmy Graham to sign with Saints or Packers, not Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have salary cap issues, but the world goes on. Due to this, it’s not expected that tight end Jimmy Graham will be re-signing with the team. Instead, the suitors have been narrowed down to the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints, per Seahawks beat writer Gregg Bell.

While not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, Jimmy Graham’s numbers in Seattle were a mere shadow of their former dominance in New Orleans. There’s several reasons for why this happened, whether it was due to injury (2015) or because of the difference in offenses, but regardless of regression, he remained a vital piece to Seattle’s offense and a nice weapon for Russell Wilson, getting 10 touchdowns in 2017 and a nomination to the Pro Bowl.

Sending him back to New Orleans could be very scary as his worst season (his rookie season) there he managed five touchdowns. The Saints used him almost purely as a pass-catcher, rarely, if ever asking him to block. The decision paid dividends as Graham caught balls all over the field from Drew Brees and easily shook off would be tacklers for big gains.

The Green Bay Packers could be an interesting destination as well. Putting Graham in the red zone with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback could cause mismatches that would almost be unfair to defenders. It would be interesting how Mike McCarthy would use him in the Packers offense.

If you’re optimistic, Graham would be fun in a San Francisco 49ers offense, but he may not be the best choice in Kyle Shanahan’s scheme. Since the offense involves spreading the ball around to as many different receivers as possible, Graham may not be fully utilized, but then again that could be a good thing.