And Adams, Janis and Abbrederis. We're looking at this from a total number of receiving threats perspective. Jimmy Graham, by all sources had over 140 targets last year, placing him somewhere between 10th and 15th most in the NFL amongst all players. Taking a quick glance, Graham is probably top 10 in targets over the last 3 years.
Since then we also signed Shields to a big deal as well as Peppers (at least it's big after this year). Our salary cap situation is different now. You've not addressed this in relation to cap space for Jimmy Graham. You've also been happy to cite Schefter and a few others that we should go for Graham, but you just dismiss their opinion when they state that we will have to let either Jordy or Cobb walk.
Which was disappointing. Let's see how he does come training camp. Jimmy Graham didn't attend OTAs either, which also happened post March 3rd.
Finley was out most of last year. He was out most of 2010 when we won the Super Bowl with Quarless starting. That didn't stop our offense from functioning at a very high level during those periods (while we still had Rodgers). As for no one else being able to do for us what Finley did, lots of Packers players get injured every year.
We don't need Jimmy Graham at the price.
And don't blanket all of us with play2win's optimism (which you exaggerate anyway). He's entitled to such; but, that doesn't mean the rest of us are on the exact same page as him. I happen to think tight end is a question mark. I believe Quarless can be an average level NFL starter based on the fact that his production last year post Finley's injury projects to about 450-500 yards and 4 TDs for a full year starting. He's basically had 2.5 years of play time due to injury and played better towards the end of the year. That tells me it's not unreasonable to suggest mid 500s yards and 4-5 TDs, especially with Rodgers at the helm. The rest have nice potential. Hopefully, it pans out for at least one of them.
Because he's labelled as a wide receiver (and is a wide receiver, so you don't confuse my meaning).
Because the stories pander to very rudimentary logic. That's already been pointed out. The Packers depth at wide receiver is better than it is at tight end. On its face, the Graham story makes more sense due to him being labelled a tight end. The labels belie the fact Graham's role has been very similar to that of a wide receiver. He takes the hybrid tight end just that one more step closer to being a wide receiver.
And regarding the opinions of Schefter, where in his career has he played football at a high level or been part of a coaching staff or a backroom staff? He studied journalism in school and his entire career has been journalism. You're mistaking being respected for having inside information and breaking stories with a pretty good track record for being an expert on assessing team needs and the cost-benefit analysis GMs and their staffs go through to make personnell decisions. I see no reason to take any journalist's opinion as gospel.
Originally Posted by: mi_keys