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TE Jimmy Graham, CHI (4 Viewers)

Can't they just make him the highest paid TE and then tack on some incentives to allow him to make as much as other receivers with the same stats?
There aren't any restrictions on what they can pay him. The restriction was based on what he gets paid if he's franchise tagged.
Then that is what I would do if I was them. I'd also tell Brees to give some $ back because he's not Brees without Graham.
Except that Brees was Brees before Graham. The guy is on a hall of fame trajectory right now. They are gonna give him lots and lots of money, but he's not gonna get anywhere near Calvin money. The Saints are fixing to have to pay a bunch of young guys (Cam Jordan, Hicks, Vaccarro and others). They already have the Brees contract to deal with, they can't afford to overpay here just because Graham might get his feelings hurt.
Cant afford to pay the most talented and productive TE in football and one of the most important assets to your club what he is worth? I agree, why would someone want to do that.
It's a shame that you completely missed the bolded parts above. I posted earlier that he should be in the 10MM range. That would make him the highest paid TE in history. How much do you think he should get paid?

 
Can't they just make him the highest paid TE and then tack on some incentives to allow him to make as much as other receivers with the same stats?
There aren't any restrictions on what they can pay him. The restriction was based on what he gets paid if he's franchise tagged.
Then that is what I would do if I was them. I'd also tell Brees to give some $ back because he's not Brees without Graham.
Except that Brees was Brees before Graham. The guy is on a hall of fame trajectory right now. They are gonna give him lots and lots of money, but he's not gonna get anywhere near Calvin money. The Saints are fixing to have to pay a bunch of young guys (Cam Jordan, Hicks, Vaccarro and others). They already have the Brees contract to deal with, they can't afford to overpay here just because Graham might get his feelings hurt.
Cant afford to pay the most talented and productive TE in football and one of the most important assets to your club what he is worth? I agree, why would someone want to do that.
It's a shame that you completely missed the bolded parts above. I posted earlier that he should be in the 10MM range. That would make him the highest paid TE in history. How much do you think he should get paid?
The same, but the way you wrote it made it look like 10 million is over paying him. He deserves 10 mill season average with a hefty guarantee.

 
The same, but the way you wrote it made it look like 10 million is over paying him. He deserves 10 mill season average with a hefty guarantee.
That's what he was on course to get from the Saints. The Saints are not hell-bent on Graham playing for $7M in 2014. An offer exceeding Gronkowski's contract was already on the table before the draft. Bumping that up to something like 6 yrs/$60M/$30M guaranteed is not that big of a stretch.

Otherwise, Graham would have to hold out 10 games in 2014, sign the franchise-tag tender in November, play 6 games to get a vested season ... and then do it all over again in 2015 (the Saints would tag him again for $8.4M). Then he goes into his age-30 season having sat out the better part of two years having received $15.4M for his trouble. No way he gets top-5 WR money after all that.

Doesn't really matter what he "would get" on the open market ... he's not on the open market. He doesn't have that leverage.

 
They can pay him whatever they want, I think that's the point. They don't want to pay him double-digit millions per year.
I think the Saints are willing to make the contract "worth" and average of $10M/yr on paper, though what's really going to matter is the guaranteeed money over the first few years.

What was Gronkowski's deal really worth? I assume the entire $54 million was not guaranteed, and thus he's not going to end up getting $9M/yr over all six years.
TE Rob Gronkowski signed a 6 year extension worth $54 million with the New England Patriots on June 8, 2012. The contract contains $13.17 million in full guarantees and $18 million in partial guarantees. Gronkowski received a signing bonus of $8 million. The Patriots hold a $10 million dollar option in 2016. Gronkowki will receive roster bonuses of $500,000 in 2016 and 2017 and $750,000 in 2018 and 2019 for every game in which he is active and $250,000 workout bonuses in each year of his contract.
http://overthecap.com/cap.php?Name=Rob%20Gronkowski%20&Position=TE&Team=Patriots

Looks like the last two years, or about 17 mill in base salary, could be considered funny money. Gronk received his deal in 2012. At this point, that's a mere starting point for any Graham discussions.

As to making it look like 10 mill on paper, some funny money on the end of the deal to make his agent look better.....I think Jimmy Graham knows he can do better. Most players settle on the bonus money, and the agent gets the inflated number so he, and his client, can feel better. You could easily make the argument that Graham is as a tough a matchup as there is in the league, and just as dangerous as Calvin Johnson. I think he's gonna get top dollar, and I don't think some wink-wink deal with a nice bonus, and fake money is gonna cut it.

It doesn't sound Graham is in the mood for a hometown discount, but we really don't know where his mindset is. Frankly, the Saints have already gotten their hometown discount from Graham for the last few years. Jimmy Graham, according to OverTheCap.com has made 3.3 mill in his career to date. If Graham wants to get his market value, I think it's more than fair he expect it.

Thing is, what's his market value? Highest-paid TE? If I am Graham's agent, I would start there, and go up. If Graham plays this year under the franchise tag, and plays as he has been, he's STILL underpaid.

Mike Wallace received 28 mill in the first two years of his deal with Miami. Graham should expect 32, I would say. And Graham knows someone will happily pay him WR money. Question is, is he willing to leave New Orleans, and play out his franchise tag? Of course, there's a chance he could get tagged again.

Maybe that's the smartest move for New Orleans. Tag him twice, then let someone else deal with the cap nightmare.
At the end of the day, they still have a guy that's underpaid and not very happy about it. Many players aren't happy about being tagged but what they're paid under that tag is often fair (or more than fair). Graham is tagged and (in his view) ends up working cheap to boot.

It reminds me of the Chris Rock skit on minimum wage, "Hey if I could pay you less, I would"...

 
At the end of the day, they still have a guy that's underpaid and not very happy about it.
Hard to be certain of that -- there are a lot of reasons Jimmy Sexton and the NFLPA would've shepherded Graham through this greivance process. It was useful to the union for one of these cases to finally get through arbitration.

I'm not convinced that Graham was absolutely counting on getting the WR tag and the $12M that comes with it ... and that without $12M he definitely sulks the rest of his Saints career. Sexton is definitely a smart enough guy to know that the arbitration was a Hail Mary at best, and he'd have advised Graham of that. In truth, Graham is a lot better off signing for top TE money anyway ... what if he'd signed the $12M WR tender, then got hurt this season? There'd be no more big contracts at all. Better to get that top-end TE contract signed now -- there's no guarantee that he'd get a chance to swim out in FA in the 2015 or 2016 off-season as a coveted commmodity.

 
Yeah, I haven't seen any angry statements from Graham. They took a shot, and lost. They had to know it was a long shot. I doubt Jimmy feels like the Saints are screwing him.

So far, aside from the challenge, it's business as usual. Good player wants to get the most he can. Team exercising all options. Haven't seen any blood in the water yet.

 
i would be nervous as an owener if he didnt sign a long term deal. How likely would he play through an injury while being franchise tagged?

 
i would be nervous as an owener if he didnt sign a long term deal. How likely would he play through an injury while being franchise tagged?
Worse than that -- Graham could sit out 10 games and not report/sign the tender until after Halloween. However, Graham has to leave a lot of right-now money on the table to play that card.

Consider this: the Saints could sell a top-TE contract to Graham thus:

"If you'd gotten tagged as a WR, you'd have signed the tender and gotten paid $12M this season. Scenario would've played out the same way next season, and we'd have tagged you again at the requisite 20% increase to $14.4M.

So that would've been $26.4M over the next two seasons, and then having to hit the open market afterwards. 32 games plus playoff games ... there's some risk there of getting through all that 100% healthy. Things happen in life, you know?

So anyway -- we can beat that $26.4M right now, with the "first two years" guarantees built into this top-TE contract. $18M guranteed to sign, and then a $12 roster bonus in March 2015. If you have a catastrophic injury in 2014, we'll insure you for the 2015 roster bonus so that you're still taken care of."

 
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Despite TE/WR ruling, ground still set for new Jimmy Graham contract


By Will Brinson | NFL Writer
July 3, 2014 12:45 pm ET

Heading into the holiday weekend, the Saints find themselves at odds with a player in terms of his worth, re-evaluating how to lock down a critical component to their offense for the long haul.

If the Jimmy Graham negotiations sound familiar, they should. This exact same thing happened two years ago with Drew Brees.

Nearly to the day, even. On July 3, 2012, an arbitrator ruled on Brees franchise-tag status, deciding New Orleans had just one more opportunity to tag Brees (the Chargers hit him in 2005 after his rookie deal was up).

10 days later, on the eve of the deadline to negotiate a new deal with players who were given the franchise tag, New Orleans and Brees hammered out a five-year, $100 million deal.

Despite a different arbitration result -- the Saints won out over Graham this time around -- the offseason script should still produce a similar ending. So what would a deal look like?

The key is both sides now know where to start negotiating.

Jimmy Graham is a tight end. His Twitter account and the legal system tell us so. He'll be a tight end next year too, when the Saints would have the option of franchising him a second time at 120 percent of this year's tag cost.

Therefore $15,477,000 is the baseline for guaranteed money owed to Graham when the Saints are talking a new deal. (A particularly substantial difference from the $27,086,400 Graham would be "owed" under a pair of wide receiver franchise tags.)

If you're talking new deal with Graham you've got to assume he's going to be paid as the top tight end in the NFL. Rob Gronkowski's currently the highest-paid tight end, at $9 million a year. Gronk's deal is missing substantial guaranteed money, however.

So why not bump up Graham's contract to $20 million guaranteed over a the course of a five-year deal and give him $45.5 million over the life of the contract?

It would give Graham the highest APY of any tight end ($9.1 million), the highest guaranteed (by far, $20 million) of any tight end in the NFL and also the highest guarantee per year ($4 million) of any tight end in the NFL.

For the Saints, it's not a really substantial reach: they're on the hook for more than $15 million if they want Graham around for two more years anyway. It keeps them from hitting the double-digit cost per year while keeping Brees top weapon around for as long as the quarterback can play (and through Graham's prime plus a year or so).

Additionally, it pays Graham, basically, like a top-10 wide receiver. He's one of the top 15 players in the game, if you're willing to believe Pete Prisco's rankings ... or Pat Kirwan's, where he's a top-10 player overall.

Per OverTheCap.com, Graham's (hypothetical) $9.1 million a year would rank ninth overall for wide receivers, just behind Andre Johnson and just ahead of Greg Jennings and Victor Cruz.

Factor in the large guaranteed sum for his services and it's hard to imagine Graham turning down such a deal, even if it doesn't hit the $12 million per year a franchise-tagged wideout would get.

Get Graham there and you're plugging him in, contractually-speaking, as a top-10 paid wide receiver in the NFL per OverTheCap.com, somewhere in the range of Greg Jennings, Andre Johnson and Victor Cruz.

There are concerns. The two sides are reportedly at "ground zero" with negotiations. Graham and the Saints don't have long to negotiate -- July 13 is the deadline to reach a new deal with a player who was given the franchise tag.

But history and a logical middle ground for contract negotiations make it a good bet Graham ends up inking a deal before things can get ugly.
 
Raiderfan32904 said:
Jimmy Graham is not worth $12 million. He's just not. On a fantasy football board with a bunch of people drafting him in the first round he's worth $12 million. By the impressive stats he's worth $12 million. He's a tight end. An extremely good one. You could call him a great TE. You could call him better than Gronk even. Elite, uber-stud, etc.

Still just a TE. Sorry Graham, you suck as a WR.

Look at the games where he split out wide. It's admittedly a small sample, but I'll point to week 6 last year against New England. The Saints gameplan had Graham split out wide as primarily a WR. What were his numbers? Zero receptions for zero yards on 6 targets. What was Graham's biggest week of 2013? Week 2 against Tampa Bay where he had 10 receptions for 179 yards, 1 TD, on 16 targets. He was primarily a TE that entire game. In fact go check out the game logs and play-by-play on this site (subscription required) and you will find that he was incredibly successful as a TE and a complete afterthought when he spilt out wide.

Graham dominates the game like few other TE's can over the middle. His size, speed, quickness, leaping ability are an unfair matchup for most any LB. But he can't play the wide reciever position nearly as effectively. In fact, he's proven to be a liability at wideout. He wants to be paid like a WR, but he can't do what they do. I don't see what his argument is really.

Now having said that, he should be willing to take an offer in the range of what Gronk is making (~$9 mill) and be done with this nonsense. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and the Saints extend an olive branch offer so that Graham can save face and the Saints can lock him up long term.
Graham is just as important to the Saints passing game as is any top WR in the league to their respective team

 
Rotoworld:

Profootballtalk reports the Saints have offered franchise player Jimmy Graham a multi-year contract worth $9.5 million annually.

PFT's Mike Florio hints the offer has been on the table for some time now, and the Saints have no plans to withdraw it, even after winning the arbitration case against Graham on Wednesday. At $9.5 million per year, Graham would be the league's highest-paid tight end. The offer also reportedly contains a "considerable chunk of fully guaranteed money up front." Florio expects the two sides to hammer out a deal at some point before the July 15 deadline.

Source: Profootballtalk on NBC Sports

Jul 4 - 10:47 AM
 
Jimmy Graham is not worth $12 million. He's just not. On a fantasy football board with a bunch of people drafting him in the first round he's worth $12 million. By the impressive stats he's worth $12 million. He's a tight end. An extremely good one. You could call him a great TE. You could call him better than Gronk even. Elite, uber-stud, etc.

Still just a TE. Sorry Graham, you suck as a WR.

Look at the games where he split out wide. It's admittedly a small sample, but I'll point to week 6 last year against New England. The Saints gameplan had Graham split out wide as primarily a WR. What were his numbers? Zero receptions for zero yards on 6 targets. What was Graham's biggest week of 2013? Week 2 against Tampa Bay where he had 10 receptions for 179 yards, 1 TD, on 16 targets. He was primarily a TE that entire game. In fact go check out the game logs and play-by-play on this site (subscription required) and you will find that he was incredibly successful as a TE and a complete afterthought when he spilt out wide.

Graham dominates the game like few other TE's can over the middle. His size, speed, quickness, leaping ability are an unfair matchup for most any LB. But he can't play the wide reciever position nearly as effectively. In fact, he's proven to be a liability at wideout. He wants to be paid like a WR, but he can't do what they do. I don't see what his argument is really.

Now having said that, he should be willing to take an offer in the range of what Gronk is making (~$9 mill) and be done with this nonsense. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and the Saints extend an olive branch offer so that Graham can save face and the Saints can lock him up long term.
Graham is just as important to the Saints passing game as is any top WR in the league to their respective team
He still cannot do what WR's do, work outside the numbers to haul in deep sideline patterns. What he does is a specific skillset. I won't argue that he's every bit as important to his team as other teams #1 wideouts, but that truth has no impact on the fact he's not a WR and does not deserve franchise WR money.

 
Jimmy Graham is not worth $12 million. He's just not. On a fantasy football board with a bunch of people drafting him in the first round he's worth $12 million. By the impressive stats he's worth $12 million. He's a tight end. An extremely good one. You could call him a great TE. You could call him better than Gronk even. Elite, uber-stud, etc.

Still just a TE. Sorry Graham, you suck as a WR.

Look at the games where he split out wide. It's admittedly a small sample, but I'll point to week 6 last year against New England. The Saints gameplan had Graham split out wide as primarily a WR. What were his numbers? Zero receptions for zero yards on 6 targets. What was Graham's biggest week of 2013? Week 2 against Tampa Bay where he had 10 receptions for 179 yards, 1 TD, on 16 targets. He was primarily a TE that entire game. In fact go check out the game logs and play-by-play on this site (subscription required) and you will find that he was incredibly successful as a TE and a complete afterthought when he spilt out wide.

Graham dominates the game like few other TE's can over the middle. His size, speed, quickness, leaping ability are an unfair matchup for most any LB. But he can't play the wide reciever position nearly as effectively. In fact, he's proven to be a liability at wideout. He wants to be paid like a WR, but he can't do what they do. I don't see what his argument is really.

Now having said that, he should be willing to take an offer in the range of what Gronk is making (~$9 mill) and be done with this nonsense. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and the Saints extend an olive branch offer so that Graham can save face and the Saints can lock him up long term.
Graham is just as important to the Saints passing game as is any top WR in the league to their respective team
He still cannot do what WR's do, work outside the numbers to haul in deep sideline patterns. What he does is a specific skillset. I won't argue that he's every bit as important to his team as other teams #1 wideouts, but that truth has no impact on the fact he's not a WR and does not deserve franchise WR money.
He probably deserves more.

No WR, except Calvin, presents the matchup problem that Graham does.

 
No WR, except Calvin, presents the matchup problem that Graham does.
Someone needs to explain the New England, St. Louis, and Seattle (x2) games last season, then. "Matchup problems" aren't game-plannable. The best that can be said going forward is that with Brandin Cooks and a now-veteran Kenny Stills, maybe when teams use their #1 CBs on Jimmy Graham this season the Saints will be better prepared to exploit it with their actual WRs.

 
Jimmy Graham is not worth $12 million. He's just not. On a fantasy football board with a bunch of people drafting him in the first round he's worth $12 million. By the impressive stats he's worth $12 million. He's a tight end. An extremely good one. You could call him a great TE. You could call him better than Gronk even. Elite, uber-stud, etc.

Still just a TE. Sorry Graham, you suck as a WR.

Look at the games where he split out wide. It's admittedly a small sample, but I'll point to week 6 last year against New England. The Saints gameplan had Graham split out wide as primarily a WR. What were his numbers? Zero receptions for zero yards on 6 targets. What was Graham's biggest week of 2013? Week 2 against Tampa Bay where he had 10 receptions for 179 yards, 1 TD, on 16 targets. He was primarily a TE that entire game. In fact go check out the game logs and play-by-play on this site (subscription required) and you will find that he was incredibly successful as a TE and a complete afterthought when he spilt out wide.

Graham dominates the game like few other TE's can over the middle. His size, speed, quickness, leaping ability are an unfair matchup for most any LB. But he can't play the wide reciever position nearly as effectively. In fact, he's proven to be a liability at wideout. He wants to be paid like a WR, but he can't do what they do. I don't see what his argument is really.

Now having said that, he should be willing to take an offer in the range of what Gronk is making (~$9 mill) and be done with this nonsense. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and the Saints extend an olive branch offer so that Graham can save face and the Saints can lock him up long term.
Graham is just as important to the Saints passing game as is any top WR in the league to their respective team
He still cannot do what WR's do, work outside the numbers to haul in deep sideline patterns. What he does is a specific skillset. I won't argue that he's every bit as important to his team as other teams #1 wideouts, but that truth has no impact on the fact he's not a WR and does not deserve franchise WR money.
He probably deserves more.

No WR, except Calvin, presents the matchup problem that Graham does.
I agree. WRs making over 10 million a year are Vincent Jackson, Dwayne Bowe, Mike Wallace, Percy Harvin, Larry Fitzgerald, and Calvin Johnson. Additionally, those contracts were signed before the salary cap spike. He's clearly more impactful than most of those players. It's hard to argue he doesn't deserve at least 8 figures. I don't think the position he plays should matter. It should be about the extent to which a "tilts the field" for his team. If you've got a kicker than can kick 90 yard FGs with 100% accuracy, he's going to blow away what other kickers have made in the past.

Of course deserves has nothing to do with it and there's more to compensation than just the annual salary. I'm sure they'll reach a deal before the deadline. If they're already at 9.5 mil and assuming a sizeable portion is guaranteed, they shouldn't be too far off.

 
Jimmy Graham is not worth $12 million. He's just not. On a fantasy football board with a bunch of people drafting him in the first round he's worth $12 million. By the impressive stats he's worth $12 million. He's a tight end. An extremely good one. You could call him a great TE. You could call him better than Gronk even. Elite, uber-stud, etc.

Still just a TE. Sorry Graham, you suck as a WR.

Look at the games where he split out wide. It's admittedly a small sample, but I'll point to week 6 last year against New England. The Saints gameplan had Graham split out wide as primarily a WR. What were his numbers? Zero receptions for zero yards on 6 targets. What was Graham's biggest week of 2013? Week 2 against Tampa Bay where he had 10 receptions for 179 yards, 1 TD, on 16 targets. He was primarily a TE that entire game. In fact go check out the game logs and play-by-play on this site (subscription required) and you will find that he was incredibly successful as a TE and a complete afterthought when he spilt out wide.

Graham dominates the game like few other TE's can over the middle. His size, speed, quickness, leaping ability are an unfair matchup for most any LB. But he can't play the wide reciever position nearly as effectively. In fact, he's proven to be a liability at wideout. He wants to be paid like a WR, but he can't do what they do. I don't see what his argument is really.

Now having said that, he should be willing to take an offer in the range of what Gronk is making (~$9 mill) and be done with this nonsense. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and the Saints extend an olive branch offer so that Graham can save face and the Saints can lock him up long term.
Graham is just as important to the Saints passing game as is any top WR in the league to their respective team
He still cannot do what WR's do, work outside the numbers to haul in deep sideline patterns. What he does is a specific skillset. I won't argue that he's every bit as important to his team as other teams #1 wideouts, but that truth has no impact on the fact he's not a WR and does not deserve franchise WR money.
He probably deserves more.

No WR, except Calvin, presents the matchup problem that Graham does.
I agree. WRs making over 10 million a year are Vincent Jackson, Dwayne Bowe, Mike Wallace, Percy Harvin, Larry Fitzgerald, and Calvin Johnson. Additionally, those contracts were signed before the salary cap spike. He's clearly more impactful than most of those players. It's hard to argue he doesn't deserve at least 8 figures. I don't think the position he plays should matter. It should be about the extent to which a "tilts the field" for his team. If you've got a kicker than can kick 90 yard FGs with 100% accuracy, he's going to blow away what other kickers have made in the past.

Of course deserves has nothing to do with it and there's more to compensation than just the annual salary. I'm sure they'll reach a deal before the deadline. If they're already at 9.5 mil and assuming a sizeable portion is guaranteed, they shouldn't be too far off.
If I was his agent, I'd be looking for closer to 11 mill, and no funny money. They could play under the tag for two years, and them probably go get 30 mill in the first two years of the next deal.

Some minimal bump on yearly average over a deal Gronk signed in 2012? Nah. I'd ask for more.

 
The ruling is in already. Graham's a TE. His agent knew it would be an uphill battle to get him the WR tag. The battle's over. Graham's agent is looking at a July 15 deadline to reach an extension in the ballpark of Gronk, (maybe a little more than that) or be stuck to the $7 million salary in 2014. And the Saints would own his rights for another year after that for maybe $9 mil. Then he can leave. But by that time, who knows what could happen. A lot of bad things can derail his career two years from now. And his age won't help him break the bank either. Graham has to be willing to hammer out a deal with front loaded incentives that lock him in for $20 mill to $30 mil over a 5 or 6 year period. What will matter more in the long run is the guaranteed money at the front end, and not the yearly wage scale bragging rights he may feel he deserves in comparison to elite WR's.

 
If I was his agent, I'd be looking for closer to 11 mill, and no funny money. They could play under the tag for two years, and them probably go get 30 mill in the first two years of the next deal.
See post #910 above. Graham assumes way too much risk in pushing his first post-rookie contract out two more seasons (to the season in which he turns 30, to boot). Sign a deal now, stay healthy and productive, and he's got a shot at a second decent contract in the 2018 or 2019 offseason.

 
If I was his agent, I'd be looking for closer to 11 mill, and no funny money. They could play under the tag for two years, and them probably go get 30 mill in the first two years of the next deal.
See post #910 above. Graham assumes way too much risk in pushing his first post-rookie contract out two more seasons (to the season in which he turns 30, to boot). Sign a deal now, stay healthy and productive, and he's got a shot at a second decent contract in the 2018 or 2019 offseason.
What risk? Devastating career-ending injury? How much of a risk is that really?

He could blow an ACL out, and get 9 mill per next season.

 
What risk? Devastating career-ending injury? How much of a risk is that really?
He could blow an ACL out, and get 9 mill per next season.
Lot of other types of injuries sharply reduce earning potential -- often even injuries that can be played through. Repetative concussions and plantar fascitis are two that come to mind. Back issues, gimpy hamstrings, etc.

 
What risk? Devastating career-ending injury? How much of a risk is that really?
He could blow an ACL out, and get 9 mill per next season.
Lot of other types of injuries sharply reduce earning potential -- often even injuries that can be played through. Repetative concussions and plantar fascitis are two that come to mind. Back issues, gimpy hamstrings, etc.
Not to mention Lis Franc. That destroys everyone.

 
What risk? Devastating career-ending injury? How much of a risk is that really?
He could blow an ACL out, and get 9 mill per next season.
Lot of other types of injuries sharply reduce earning potential -- often even injuries that can be played through. Repetative concussions and plantar fascitis are two that come to mind. Back issues, gimpy hamstrings, etc.
And Jimmy is a particularly aggressive player on the field, he regularly takes and gives heavy head blows to one or more players in a given play. And plays on.

 
He just risked it all for 1.3 mil, why not risk it all for 7 mil?
EDIT: He didn't actually "risk it all for $1.3M" ... he didn't have a choice in the matter.

His choice is basically between (A) something like $25-30M in guaranteed money over the next 9 months, with the sum of his 2014 game checks added on top of the guaranteed money; and (B) playing for $7M in 2014 and a currently unguaranteed $8.4M in 2015 ... then going out into FA in 2016 (turning 30 in Nov '16) for "certain" top-3 WR money on the open market.

Man ... to me, Choice A is an immense no-brainer. But everyone addresses risk differently, I suppose.

 
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Rotoworld:

A source with knowledge of the situation tells Profootballtalk.com the Saints were not thrilled with the way arbitrator Stephen Burbank ruled in their favor during the Jimmy Graham franchise tag case.

The Saints "disagree" a tight end's position is determined by whether he lines up within four yards of an offensive tackle. They believe three factors distinguish tight ends: 1) Their size 2) The position group with which they meet 3) How they are defended. PFT's Mike Florio, who is an attorney, suggests the Graham case could be "a little more vulnerable to reversal" on appeal. We're still not worried about Graham losing tight end eligibility in fantasy football leagues.

Source: Profootballtalk on NBC Sports

Jul 6 - 8:58 PM
 
Seems awfully quiet- rumored deadline to file an appeal is today at 4 est and deadline for a contract extension is tomorrow at 4 est.

 
Ian Rapoport @RapSheet

#Saints TE Jimmy Graham has officially appealed the ruling that stated he’ll be paid as a franchise-tagged TE not WR, source said.
New Orleans Saints Jimmy Graham appeals arbitrator's ruling, NFL Network reports

New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham has appealed arbitrator Stephen Burbank's ruling, according to the NFL Network. Graham had until Monday to appeal the ruling that designated him as a tight end for franchise tag purposes.

Graham's appeal comes just 24 hours ahead of the deadline to negotiate a long-term contract with the team. If the two sides don't reach a deal by 3 p.m. Tuesday, then Graham will have to play under the franchise tag or sit out the season.

Graham has not yet signed his $7 million franchise tag tender.
 
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Jimmy Graham @TheJimmyGraham · 18m
It's official I'm bleeding black and gold this morning! Thank you WhoDatNation for all the support.
It's good to finally hear something positive about the guy. My biggest fear was for him to be unhappy with the Saints and not try hard and him end up leaving. Hopefully they locked him up for a LONG time.

 
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It's good to finally hear something positive about the guy. My biggest fear was for him to be unhappy with the Saints and not try hard and him end up leaving. Hopefully they locked him up for a LONG time.
While Graham would've gladly accepted any extra money, I believe that the whole TE/WR flap was pretty much exclusively pushed by Jimmy Sexton and the NFLPA. Don't think Graham was ever counting on top WR money.

 
Chris Mortensen:

"So @TheJimmyGraham breaks news ...sources say Saints & TE have agreement in principle but contract language still being worked on."


...

Please no last minute hang-ups :wall:
 
It's good to finally hear something positive about the guy. My biggest fear was for him to be unhappy with the Saints and not try hard and him end up leaving. Hopefully they locked him up for a LONG time.
While Graham would've gladly accepted any extra money, I believe that the whole TE/WR flap was pretty much exclusively pushed by Jimmy Sexton and the NFLPA. Don't think Graham was ever counting on top WR money.
Could be true, but I still have the feeling he wouldn't have been too happy if he had to play out this year on a TE level franchise tag. Maybe he would be a little more careful and wouldn't play through injuries like he has in the past.

 
From another board, can't see Twitter from work:

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter 1m
Saints are signing TE Jimmy Graham to a 4-year, $40 million deal that includes $21 million guaranteed, per source familiar with deal.
 
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Could be true, but I still have the feeling he wouldn't have been too happy if he had to play out this year on a TE level franchise tag. Maybe he would be a little more careful and wouldn't play through injuries like he has in the past.
See what you mean now. Yes, I agree with the bolded had he played udner the tag this season.

Glad he won't have to. More than half his new contract is guaranteed if Schefter is right.

 
Seems pretty reasonable.
Speculation:

Looks like the hang-up was on having a fifth year on the deal. WIth the way this current contract is structured, Graham will next hit free agency as a 31-year-old. With good health, that would be young enough to one more solid NFL contract.

 
What does the RT mean?
How Twitter works is that you only see tweets from people you are specifically following. So if you're following me, and I'm following Adam Schefter, you won't see what Adam Schefter tweets. If he tweets something I think my followers might be interested in, I can "retweet it", which basically puts it on my own timeline so that my followers can see it, too. Most common twitter etiquette is to precede that tweet with an RT to mark that it's not my own original tweet. The RT also delineates where my words end and someone else's begin. In the tweet in question, everything after the RT was Jimmy Graham's original tweet, while everything before ("done deal") was Ian Rappaport's own personal commentary on that tweet.

The format seems a little bit odd and unwieldy at first, but you pick up on it quickly. But yeah, it'll often look like a foreign language to someone who doesn't use Twitter regularly.

 

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