Jimmy Graham has about five million reasons to want to be classified as a wide receiver, where he plays about two thirds of the time, and a tight end which is what he signed on with the Saints as. It sounds like just a matter of terminology but it’s causing quite a stir down in the ‘Big Easy’.
No Saints fan wants to lose Jimmy Graham and that includes Tom Benson, Mickey Lomis and Sean Payton as well. No one really thinks that he will be leaving Louisiana but, as they say in New Orleans, ‘ya neva know’. Let’s just hope that the two sides don’t talk themselves into a box where everyone ends up losing, except the lucky team that now has Jimmy Graham catching touchdown passes for them.
So the Saints front office, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen to put the dreaded franchise tag on Graham even after he said publicly that his would not appreciate them doing so. Not only that, they use the ‘non-exclusive’ tag on the tight end meaning that other teams in the NFL would have a shot a Jimmy Graham, for the right price and that price is pretty high.
The Saints are asking two first round draft picks for Graham. Then of course the other team would have to meet his salary demands which would probably be in the neighborhood of $10 million per year, like I said, pretty expensive deal. And New Orleans would retain the rights to match whatever the other team offered Graham and get him back again for another year anyway.
Graham appealed to the NFL Commissioner’s office to change his classification from tight end to wide receiver but Roger Goodell and company turned him down causing several sports journalists to comment the Jimmy obviously had no friends in the commissioner’s office.
So Jimmy Graham is stuck making $7,035,000 for the upcoming NFL season. Well, things could be worse. Of course it would be nice for him to be getting the $12,312,000 that he would be making as a wide receiver but he’ll get by. At least in New Orleans he will have great fans and great food to see him through.
It must be pointed out the Jimmy Graham has never been classified as a receiver anywhere. He has been to the ProBowl as a tight end. He even refers to himself on his Twitter page as ‘New Orleans Saints Tight End’.
But who can blame him for giving it a shot. Hell, five million dollars difference, wouldn’t you?
