Rodgers will still have Graham as a target next year, according to Ian Rapoport:
A non-Super Bowl tidbit: When the #Packers prepare for the offseason, they do so with the belief that TE Jimmy Graham will be back for 2019, source said. He’s due a $5M roster bonus on 3/15, and the expectation now is they pay it and he returns. Another season with Aaron Rodgers.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 29, 2019
While injuries and inconsistency have kept Jimmy Graham from being that exciting addition to the offense many hoped, he will get one more shot at being the Red Zone threat he is slated to be. It will also be interesting to see how Matt LaFleur’s new offense intends to utilize the tight end position. With 12 starts, Graham finished the 2018 season with 55 receptions for 636 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
The Packers office must really see something special left in Graham and feel he is important for the team’s reboot under Matt LaFleur. Personally, I don’t feel he is worth his cost. Graham will receive a $5 million roster bonus in March and keep his base salary of $3.45 million.
With that said, Mike McCarthy isn’t exactly keen on tight end strategy and leveraging the position so at least next season Graham can be judged more fairly – assuming he can stay healthy all season to earn his salary. Hopefully the Packers will continue to look towards the future this off-season and still make an effort to bring more TE talent to the team. It should also be noted that the wording of Rapoport’s tweet does not make it sound like it is 100% certain to happen so we’ll see.
The play calling and the mis-use of many of the Packer players talents have been on display for many years now. Not allowing Jared Cook to stay was sheer lunacy. It was obvious that there was at least some connection with Rodgers that was beginning to grow towards the end of the season that Cook played in Green Bay. I personally felt that Cook was not given as many opportunities that he should have been afforded. M. Bennett was at best a sideways move that was woefully wrong considering the cost and the potential for chaos that seemed to follow Bennett’s career. I was hopeful that Bennett’s skillsets might offset all of his negative factors, but to no avail. So Gute saddled us with Graham for better or worse. It IS quite apparent that Graham has lost at least a step (if not more). He seems to have a tendency to drop more passes as well. The drops may be from not catching a few hundred more passes from Rodgers, as each QB throws the ball a bit differently than the other. OR, from both Rodgers and Graham hardly ever practicing together or with the team last year (injuries, privilege? who knows?). What really has to happen for Graham to be relevant and Rodgers to utilize what skillsets that Graham may still possess is for new schemes for the TE position to happen and for both Rodgers AND Graham to be healthy enough, but more importantly, willing enough to spend more time together on the practice field. Like in any sport or any aspect of life, if you don’t keep your skills honed . . . you lose them PERIOD.
PF4L
01/29/2019 at 3:50 pm
In unrelated…….i didn’t like how Gute started his first chapter last year and if the rumors are true, i’m not digging how he is going to start his 2nd chapter.
So let me see if i have this right. We give Jimmy $13.25 million and make him the highest paid tight end, then we are going to gift him with another 5.3 million, 3 months after his 1st season for a total of $18.8 million?
So $18.8 million, one year after signing his 3 year deal. Has the brain trust of this team learned nothing from past mistakes?
I guess letting him go would be admitting a mistake, sound familiar? Luckily he only counts 12.6 million against the cap. We got ourselves quite a bargain for those 2 Td’s.
The only reason i can think of for Murphy/Gute to justify this, is to eliminate a need heading into the draft and free agency. But here’s the problem, you sort of eliminate a need, but based on his production, There is still clearly a need. But they have a name i guess, a name that meant something, 6 years ago.
I’m sorry, but not only do i not have any optimism for this team, I have absolutely no confidence in the state of this team. Yes i could be wrong i guess, But when i call or make predictions (about this team), how often am i wrong? If you were to do some research to find out where i’ve been wrong since 2011…you’d better pack a lunch and get comfortable. I don’t say it to gloat, i say it because it kills me to have to say it, but that’s our reality.
Letting someone go and admitting a mistake? Who do you think these guys are? Ron Wolf? After an unsuccessful season, any player or staff member has at least 3-4 years to mildly improve their performance before they are let go or converted to another position.
Lol, this following post where i captioned the photo of McCarthy and Zook, kind of goes along those lines.
PF4L
01/24/2019 at 3:22 pm
McCarthy: “Ron..if you can’t improve the special teams unit, i may have to let you go in 5 or 6 years.”