Jimmy Graham

[hoops]

Drew Brees restructure,

Didn't that guy hold the Saints over a ****ing barrel so that he could be the highest paid QB in the NFL for a brief time, before Joe Flacco went and did the same thing?

just cause you restructure doesnt mean he'd be losing money...they would just relieve some cap hit in the short term etc...

 

[roy_miami]

I don't see how Jimmy is going to feel like the Saints did him wrong though. They are going to work to make him the highest paid TE in league history. .

I know I would take it as an insult if they didn't at least try to extend me prior to my final season. Like what the Ravens did to Flacco, you could tell Flacco felt slightly disrespected when the team decided to gamble on the final season and let it play out (I'm still not even sure if that gamble paid off). Anyway, I'm sure Graham will remain a Saint at the end of the day but I bet we won't find out any time soon, he'll make the Saints sweat and will use other teams to try to up his deal. That might give us the opportunity to blow his doors off.

 

[Al13]

Yeah, unless Carolina extended him and I didn't know about it.

he is signed through 2015

 

[damanref10]

I know I would take it as an insult if they didn't at least try to extend me prior to my final season. Like what the Ravens did to Flacco, you could tell Flacco felt slightly disrespected when the team decided to gamble on the final season and let it play out (I'm still not even sure if that gamble paid off). Anyway, I'm sure Graham will remain a Saint at the end of the day but I bet we won't find out any time soon, he'll make the Saints sweat and will use other teams to try to up his deal. That might give us the opportunity to blow his doors off.

Going to get franchise tagged before he hits the market if they can't agree to a deal - then they have months to work on an extension exclusively.

 

[Valandui]

he is signed through 2015

Yeah, I saw some stuff that said he was and some that said he wasn't.

 

[tay0365]

As amazing as the idea of seeing Graham back in Miami, it's not happening, use FA to fix the O-line, and take either Ebron, or Amaro, both these guys are going to be quality TEs, and who knows, one or both could become superstars.

 

[gofins60]

...hopefully the new GM will have a better eye for talent than Ireland

+1

Ireland was dead-set against picking offensive playmakers early in the draft. He saw more value in trading down a few times and picking 2 or 3 Egnew-type players than drafting a Graham-type player in the 1st round. It's a nice strategy if the majority of those picks turn out to be above-average or better, but Ireland usually ended up with back-ups and camp bodies.

 

[shaqdiese1]

As much as I like the idea there are two reason why it won't happen. One, the man will want too much money. Secondly, the offensive line needs to be fixed first.

Yes people lets repeat this slowly O-LINE, O-LINE, O-LINE.......

 

[Ti Rider]

If he hits the open market Miami has to make him the highest paid TE in league history. 10M per year average. Saints are 13 million over the salary cap right now.

Just FYI.......yes the Saints are over the cap right now but won't be once free agency starts. The Saints have a ton of older, very expensive FAs that were on IR last year that will be released (Will Smith alone counts $11 million against the cap, then there's Vilma, Greer,etc.). The good news for the Saints is they replaced these guys with younger, healthier (and cheaper) players and now have a bunch of veterans to release for cap room and quite a few older expensive vets who will be asked restructure their deals (Roman Harper, Pierre Thomas, Lance Moore) or be released. They should easily end up with enough money to re sign Graham to a big new contract, have some left to re sign a few of their own pending free agents, plus grab a select unrestricted free agent or two.

Finally the Saints also have this - Brees has said he's willing to restructure his deal to help the team. It hasn't been widely reported, just that the Saints are facing a "cap disaster". If the Saints need it Brees is willing to restructure his deal to keep guys like Graham on the team. But don't be surprised if the Saints excellent GM, Mickey Loomis, gets the Saints millions under the cap without resorting to Brees restructuring.

That's a lot of words to basically say Graham isn't going anywhere.

 

[futurescout]

Once Will Smith is cut, which is going to happen the second the league year begins again, that frees up $11,550,000 in cap room for nola right away.
Jabari Greer could also be let go which would save 3,175,000 million if they cut him outright, or if they designate him a june 1 cut would free up almost 4,500,000 million for this year (and defer the 1,325,000 of 2014 signing bonus until next year).
Darren Sproles who carries a lot of name weight but has seen his production drop off dramatically could be approached about a pay cut or released and would save 3,500,000 in cap space....

That's already almost 20 million in cap space freed up.

And of course you could approach Brees or Jahri evans about restructuring, turning part or most of their 2014 p5 base salary into signing bonus and prorate it over the rest of their deal which would lower the saints 2014 hit substantially. Brees has a 10,750,000 2014 p5 base and Evans has 6,800,000.

Jimmy isn't going anywhere. Question is whether the Saints tag him or lock him down, if they decide to tag him... get ready for a fight about the TE/WR designation. But all that will get taken care of in the wash and Jimmy will get his money.

As one front office exec told me last week, "if i can't find a way to create 10, 12, or whatever to sign one of the best players in our league..... than I don't deserve to have my job"

I figured this would be the reason he would hit the market, along with their cap troubles. But I knew that Will Smith was gonzo.

 

[futurescout]

As far as TE's go... Would love Ebron at #19. He is my #12 player on my draft board. Amaro would still be a good pick at #19 as I have him #21 overall. I wouldn't mind Amaro at #19, but as long as players I have rated higher like Darqueze Dennard (#3), Calvin Pryor (#9), Taylor Lewan (#13), and Zack Martin (#19) are not on the board. In that case I would be fine with the Amaro pick. I think Ebron will be a perennial pro bowler, and Amaro should make a few. Ebron reminds me of a slightly less athletic Vernon Davis. He really puts effort into blocking, which is not very common in receving Tight Ends. I have Amaro rated a little higher than Tyler Eifert and Zach Ertz a year ago. In round 2 Austin Seferian-Jenkins would be a steal, and Niklas would be a solid pick as well. I just hope our GM drafts BPA not need. Free agent tight ends this off-season (with the exception of Jimmy) A. Suck or B. aren't healthy (Dennis Pitta, Jermichael Finley, Dustin Keller). I like Clay a lot but he is more of a jack of all trades than a true tight end. He cannot block inline. Our running game will improve if we can find a TE that can reach block DE's and Sam linebackers.

 

[CMD]

Still no way Saints would let him walk.

If Graham is a FA head will roll, especially Brees's.

 

[Mcganiel]

I like Jacob Tamme from denver for te. Him, sims and clay would be a great trio..

 

[Alex Trevelyan]

Players aren't stupid. They realize that some of their production is related to the situation they are in. I don't care how disrespected Jimmy Graham feels, there is no way he's going to walk away from Drew Brees and that system in New Orleans just so he can get paid a few more dollars. In the long term it's not in his best interests. He's young enough that he could get another major contract. Now if he were to get a major offer from the Patriots, then all things being equal he might bite on that, but he has relationships in New Orleans, they've got a good thing going both on the field and in the community. Just think how far that organization has come thanks in part to Jimmy Graham. It was a cesspool in NOLA for decades, an embarrassing situation of hopelessness. They've expunged that bad stuff, voodoo has sent it to Miami now. Why on earth would he come here? Because he played at the U? This team has too many needs in areas outside the skill positions to spend that kind of money on one player.

 

[orpheus]

Still no way Saints would let him walk.

If Graham is a FA head will roll, especially Brees's.

I never realized Brees stuck his neck out like that for his team.