Per Ian Rap:
Jimmy Graham appears set to catch passes from Aaron Rodgers for another season.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday that when the Packers prepare for the offseason, they do so with the belief that Graham will be back for 2019, a source said.
The tight end is due a $5 million roster bonus on March 15, and the expectation now is they pay it, and he returns, according to Rapoport
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Good. Hopefully he will be more like the old Graham.
For those who don't recall this, the Packers led the NFL, and when I say led I mean the next team wasn't even a close 2nd in passes to the perimeters of the field. Time and again, MM refused to use the middle of the field. A ton of passes went to the sidelines.
Guessing MLF, while reviewing the Packers 2018 offense, noticed this and said a lot of "what the fu**'s" and then said let's try using Graham correctly.
kcpuck posted:Good. Hopefully he will be more like the old Graham.
Unfortunately, he is the old Graham.
Good locker room guy - Hopefully he improves in 2019.....Instead of having a TD pass go off his facemask & bouncing into a Bear defender.
I still want another TE. 2 TE sets would be a welcomed change.
Questionable move. Father Time remains undefeated.
I still hope they keep Tonyan and start using him more. Or get another young guy and stop with the old reclamation projects.
It’s a supposedly deep draft for TE’s. Hoping Gute spends a higher round draft pick on one in a couple months.
The Packers haven’t had a franchise TE since Finley. That’s a long ass time ago.
Cook?
packerboi posted:Guessing MLF, while reviewing the Packers 2018 offense, noticed this and said a lot of "what the fu**'s" and then said let's try using Graham correctly.
During Murphy's 20 minute soliloquy before introducing MLF, he said MLF was the most prepared and knew all the Packers players well. There was also that story that he had an iPAD for each (Murph, Gutekunst, Ball) in the interview but they never looked at them. What if those iPADs contained clips of Packers plays, and instead of analyzing what they did on each play, MLF highlighted their missed opportunities?
How do you use a guy correctly that stumbles and falls on most catches?
It’s been speculated that JG was struggling with a knee problem. He was often on the injury report for it. Also he played with a broken thumb. In any case he made a decent decoy.
packerboi posted:For those who don't recall this, the Packers led the NFL, and when I say led I mean the next team wasn't even a close 2nd in passes to the perimeters of the field. Time and again, MM refused to use the middle of the field. A ton of passes went to the sidelines.
Guessing MLF, while reviewing the Packers 2018 offense, noticed this and said a lot of "what the fu**'s" and then said let's try using Graham
Watching training camp you could see that MM was only running perimeter plays with the rookie WRs. Once Allison and Cobb went down it was apparent that is all they were going to run. Without Cobb they really didn’t have a true slot receiver on the team. Combine this with the lack of Jordy on the slant which was a bread and butter and it’s like half of their passing offense was missing.
The lack of using Graham was dumbfounding. In camp his speed at TE really stood out.
But.....but....but..... the 2 Minnysoda rubes told us Graham is getting cut. And since they are never ever rong, I think he's getting cut.
Most fans were disappointed by Graham's production in 2018. Hell, even he said that his numbers sucked. With that said, Graham was still the 9th best TE numbers wise in the league with 55 catches for 636 yards for an average of over 11 yards per catch. My guess is that MLF will get a lot more production out of Graham in 2019.
I don't know if I should post this or not, but after week 6, Graham was on a pace for 72 receptions and 931 yards. Those numbers would have been records for a TE in GB. Finley has the reception record with 61. And West has the yardage record with 834 (I believe). He might have had more TD opportunities if he had not received so much red zone attention. But things began to go down when he broke his hand.
Stats mean little, watch the games. Whether it be injury, misuse or aging he had little impact. Now, he may get healthy and he may be put in a better position to be impactful but he is not getting younger and is way past his best years.
GBFanForLife posted:How do you use a guy correctly that stumbles and falls on most catches?
I wonder if that's the case for all the other TEs that were never used correctly.
Hopefully it was a situation where MLF said "I can still get something out of him if he is used correctly"
I agree Heckler, I doubt Graham was used properly. Yet I also think he has probably lost a step and injury has played a role esp toward the end of the season. I hope that a healthy offseason and new scheme will have him ready to play a larger role this year. Besides, we don’t have anybody else yet.
Yes, Graham not being utilized properly and diminished athletic skills due to age are not mutually exclusive. Saw numerous occasions where the plays were there to be made and Jimmy just couldn't do it like he could earlier in his career. I'm skeptical but time will tell on the move.
FA class and the Packers available cap room probably played into this as well. Aside from Jared Cook, this is a very lousy TE UFA class in 2019. After Cook, it's a substantial drop off.
PackerPatrick posted:I agree Heckler, I doubt Graham was used properly. Yet I also think he has probably lost a step and injury has played a role esp toward the end of the season. I hope that a healthy offseason and new scheme will have him ready to play a larger role this year. Besides, we don’t have anybody else yet.
I hate to blame injuries but I think in Graham's case I think it may have been a factor as the season went along. I think we will know pretty quickly this year with a new offensive scheme if he still can play or not.
I remember the first game of the year vs. the Bears - Fangio was terrified of Graham, so he doubled/blanketed him on practically every single play.
Yes as season progressed JG also had knee/thumb issues & still played. Hopeful the Pack can squeeze 1 solid year out of him in 2019. 75 catches 800-1,000 yds & 8 TD's would be perfect because the WR's & RB's will take the bulk of the scoring
Hope MLF lights a fire under his ass and he becomes A)A more precise route runner and B)A more inspired blocker.
Brainwashed Boris posted:I remember the first game of the year vs. the Bears - Fangio was terrified of Graham, so he doubled/blanketed him on practically every single play.
Yes as season progressed JG also had knee/thumb issues & still played. Hopeful the Pack can squeeze 1 solid year out of him in 2019. 75 catches 800-1,000 yds & 8 TD's would be perfect because the WR's & RB's will take the bulk of the scoring
Every time JG gets double covered it opens a possibility for another receiver. He makes a great decoy. And his numbers were not all that bad (except in the red zone). I don’t see him as the threat he used to be but paired with other threats and if he is healthy he is worth another year. After that who knows? I read that his third year has a possible out for the team. But we do need another TE regardless.
and while we are at it why not bring back Lewis back as well? Won’t cost much.
Henry posted:
GBFanForLife posted:How do you use a guy correctly that stumbles and falls on most catches?
I wonder if that's the case for all the other TEs that were never used correctly.
By other TEs do you mean the uber talented TE prodigies like Richard Rodgers and Andrew Quarless? By my estimation there have only been 2 legit TEs (Finley, Cook) MM had been given and bother were seemingly used well enough considering the talent around them that deserved the lions share of touches. There wasn't going to be time for Rodgers to wait for Graham to get open plodding down the seam anyway, which I'm assuming is what everyone means by "used correctly". "Using him correctly" wasn't going to be the difference for this offense anyway, the dysfunction ran deeper than that.
I'm surprised that they want to keep Graham because this scheme (based on what we've seen of McVay and Shannahan) seems to favor move TE's like Jordan Reed or George Kittle. McVay hasn't utilized a TE hardly at all in LA. Graham is athletic, but more of inline TE like Gronk.
Pakrz posted:Most fans were disappointed by Graham's production in 2018. Hell, even he said that his numbers sucked. With that said, Graham was still the 9th best TE numbers wise in the league with 55 catches for 636 yards for an average of over 11 yards per catch. My guess is that MLF will get a lot more production out of Graham in 2019.
I'm not so optimistic. I didn't see him creating any separation. Now, with his body type he doesn't need a ton and I think that's why he still got 600 yards, but that seems to be his ceiling now. There is the factor that there was no scheming him open, but still, with his speed and RAC ability, I would suggest he shouldn't be a focal point.
One last point, he can't block for shit. I don't see that playing well with Boots with LeFur.
Shit oline, beat up QB, dumpster fire coaching, general discord.
I'll wait till next year to form opinions on who did or didn't play well. The fact Ankles was absolutely crushing it speaks more to how damn good he is vs. anything else that wreck of an offense was doing.
And yes, bring back Lewis but I wonder if he's hanging 'em up.
Graham didn't take advantage of various opportunities we all saw this season. However he did draw a lot of coverage early in the year until defenses figured out they didn't have to focus on him as much as they were. The concurrent problem was the WR drop off after 17, predominantly in the slot. OR GB needed to stress both boundaries on plays they wanted to get Graham the ball between the hashes. Instead, defenses could focus on 17...and then everyone else without worrying about Graham because he wasn't really hurting anyone anymore. He needs a legit #2 WR as much as the offense does.
Graham was going to have a $7M charge to the cap whether we cut him or not. It was a bad contract...it makes sense to bring him back and hope he can perform somewhere near his ability. Maybe we finally have a HC and OC that will craft plays to his strengths instead of "we do what we do."
What are his current strengths?
He isn't being coached by McVince.
I think Graham can be better in the RZ than he was in 2018. Guess we'll see
Hackett, Getsy, Outten, Whitted.
No tape, no history, no tendencies plus Aaron Rodgers.
Couple fresh slobs up front and an edge rusher.
Yes.
Only Don Beebe can teach speed.
The thing about rookie TE's is they tend to take 2-3 years to develop into something good (from what I've heard). If the Pack were to draft one (or two) this year keeping Graham around another year to help mentor the new guy is smart.
Just so he doesn't teach him how to block.
Using the middle of the field might be allowed now. Could improve Grahams effectiveness. He can't run well anymore and he never could block, but I have a feeling Pepe LePew will use him more effectively than McComplacent did.
