Jimmy Graham Traded to the Seahawks

 

Graham officially a Seahawk. Photo Credit: Derick E. Hingle/USA Today Sports

The Saints and Seahawks hooked up for a shocking trade that rocked the NFL.

By: Michael Hanley (@Magic20099)


New Orleans and Seattle agreed to a trade in which the Saints send their very highly talented and skilled tight end in Jimmy Graham, plus a forth round pick to the Seahawks who in return sent center Max Unger and  first round pick back to the Saints.

This is all part of a plan by the Saints to clear money off their books and get under the cap so they can go out and bring some new faces into the organization as they seek to shake off the disappointing 7-9 season of last year.

Clearing Graham's contract off their plate is a huge relief financially to the team. Although they signed Graham to a four year, $40 million deal last season, New Orleans believes they got more than enough production when he was out from his position that they can move on without him and still be an effective and productive offense.

They did go out and get Mercedes Lewis of the Jaguars to fill their vacant tight end role. He should be able to put up solid numbers and be an effective weapon for drew Brees to throw to and rely upon in games.

As for the Seahawks, their offense just got a whole lot more difficult to stop as Graham will give them an explosive play maker that Russell Wilson will quickly find a chemistry and rhythm with. Graham is only 28 and is easily one of the most talented and difficult player sin the league to stop, let alone slow down when he is in a rhythm.

Though he was battling a shoulder injury for most of last season, Graham still managed to catch 85 balls for 889 yards, including ten touchdown catches. Impressive still from him not at 100% health and on a team that had massive troubles being consistent on offense and scoring points. For his career, the numbers are staggering to see. Over his five seasons with the Saints and being in the league, Graham as accumulated 4,752 yards receiving and 51 touchdowns.

The Seahawks have a good shot at seeing that high level production Graham was putting up before the injuries cropped up the last few seasons.  Graham will be a perfect weapon for the Seahawks offensive staff to work with and can now build plays around him, which will create more big plays for them and also help other play makers on offense have more space to work with defenses being more worried about not having Graham beat them all game long.

Though it looks like both sides have  areal chance to be winners from this trade, for now, Seattle got the better end of this deal, acquiring one of the best players in this league and having control of him contract wise for multiple years.

Seattle was hard enough to stop on offense last season, with Graham in the fold, the Seahawks somehow managed to become an even bigger headache for the rest of the teams in the league to deal with.