{"id":38536,"date":"2018-03-13T16:19:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T20:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=38536"},"modified":"2018-03-13T16:19:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T20:19:20","slug":"jimmy-graham-signs-packers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2018\/03\/13\/jimmy-graham-signs-packers\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Tight End Jimmy Graham to Sign With Green Bay Packers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran tight end <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/G\/GrahJi00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Graham<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>will sign a three-year deal with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/packers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Green Bay Packers<\/a> once the new league year begins, according to ESPN&#8217;s <strong>Adam Schefter<\/strong>. This is Graham\u2019s third team in his nine-year career. He played his first five seasons with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/saints\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Orleans Saints<\/a> and was traded to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/seahawks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in 2015. Graham will try to show that he still has something left in the tank after being inconsistent with his performance during the last few years.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Packers intend to sign TE Jimmy Graham to a three-year deal, sources tell ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/973653169459875840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h1><strong>Report: Green Bay Packers Will Sign Jimmy Graham to Three-Year Deal<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Graham started his career with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/saints\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Orleans Saints<\/a>. He quickly became a favorite target of quarterback <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BreeDr00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Drew Brees<\/a><\/strong>. He gave opposing teams nightmares running up the middle of the field. Graham had the size of a tight end, but put up numbers like a wide receiver.<\/p>\n<p>In just his second season, he racked up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfl.com\/player\/jimmygraham\/497236\/careerstats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1,310 receiving yards<\/a> and scored 11 touchdowns. His best season as a Saint came in 2013. That year, he scored a ridiculous <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfl.com\/player\/jimmygraham\/497236\/careerstats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">16 touchdowns<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0top of 1,215 yards.<\/p>\n<p>Surprisingly, Graham was traded to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/seahawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in 2015.The Seahawks sent center <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/U\/UngeMa20.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max Unger<\/a><\/strong> and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/saints\/2015\/03\/10\/jimmy-grahama-saints-seahawks-trade\/24630653\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first-round pick<\/a>\u00a0for him. Graham was supposed to give Seattle a vertical threat to go along with then-running back <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/L\/LyncMa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marshawn Lynch<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s punishing ground game.<\/p>\n<p>Results were mixed during his time with the Seahawks. He struggled to get on the same page with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WilsRu00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Russell Wilson<\/a><\/strong>. Then, his first season with his new team was cut short after he suffered a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/blog\/seattle-seahawks\/post\/_\/id\/20692\/why-jimmy-grahams-patellar-tendon-injury-has-such-an-uncertain-recovery\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">patellar tendon tear<\/a> in his 11th game.<\/p>\n<p>Critics were uncertain if he would come back as the same player\u00a0since it is an injury that can take years to recover from. He ended up having somewhat of a bounce-back season in 2016 however. He caught 65 balls for 923 yards and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfl.com\/player\/jimmygraham\/497236\/careerstats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">six scores<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last season his age started to show, as he struggled to get separation from defenders in the open field. His 9.1 yards per catch was the first time that he had under 10 yards per catch in a season. He was a non-factor in many games, only managing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfl.com\/player\/jimmygraham\/497236\/careerstats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">520 total yards<\/a> on the season. He did score <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfl.com\/player\/jimmygraham\/497236\/careerstats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ten touchdowns<\/a> though, which was the first time he managed double digits with the Seahawks.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"iajNcv5GSbZ_zebIiaXJEQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/890533032\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'iajNcv5GSbZ_zebIiaXJEQ',sig:'hwiY59PmUh7rzWwLXywO32yluQ2IKuO7yAlfd7rtx0E=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'890533032',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jimmy Graham will try to show that he still has something left in the tank after being inconsistent with his performance during the last few years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2250,"featured_media":39265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,32],"tags":[3502,61,44,239,40,179],"class_list":["post-38536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-seahawks","tag-2018-nfl-free-agency","tag-football","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-jimmy-graham","tag-nfl","tag-seattle-seahawks"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}