The New Orleans Saints finished off their season with a loss to the Seattle Seahawks this weekend and now the team has some major questions going forward, the biggest one being what the team does with tight end Jimmy Graham, as they could sue the franchise tag on the free agent, while teams like the Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins or Washington Redskins could be interested in signing him.
Graham is coming off of another insane season after playing with Drew Brees and he led the team with 86 catches for 1,215 yards and 16 touchdowns and now he is considered to be the top TE in the league with Rob Gronkowski out. According to Pro Football Talk, Graham and the Saints may have some problems with the franchise tag and his contract, as Graham feels he should be paid like a wide receiver with the numbers he puts up and with Drew Brees throwing the ball, he has a point.
The Saints will have to figure out what to do before Match 11, which is the day that Graham will hit the open market as a free agent and for weeks before that, the team has the chance to place the franchise tag on him to keep Graham off the market. This is where the position issue comes in, as Graham is obviously a tight end, but the CBA language when it comes to tags has the rules saying that the tender will be for where the player lined up the most during the season and if Graham can show he was split out wide more than in the TE position, he has a case.
The tight end tag and the WR tag are drastically different and after it was around $5 million last season and with the Saints playing hardball with Drew Brees, it could be a tough battle. The team, according to ESPN.com, is about $12 million over the projected cap already and adding Graham to that mix makes things tough as well.
The team picks 27th in the draft this season and they could conceivably pick a tight end just in case Graham leaves, but the way he has played with Brees makes keeping him a priority. Brees knows that his time is limited at 35 years old and having Graham in the lineup will make the team a perennial Super Bowl contender.
