You're grasping at straws on this one Barfan. The Packers pursued Robinson before Graham and likely wouldn't have signed Jimmy if Robinson agreed to terms. So no the Packers "street cred" didn't cause them to lose Robinson or any of the CBs they were rumored to be interested in. Besides Fuller who else did the Packers even make an offer on btw? If there were 20+ surely you have some names. Also if the Packers were overpaying why did the Bears match it?
I think Graham got overpaid by 2-3 million a year but so did alot of players, when you sign players on day 1 of free agency they're almost always overpaid. Considering we had no one at TE and the draft doesn't have alot of immediate starter possibilities I'm fine with the move.
Originally Posted by: isocleas2
If GB overpaid by $2-3M words like moron and flake would not be attaching to the new GM. You're $7-8M estimate is the money Bennett got. If you compare Benett's '16 juxtaposed against his career to Graham's, $7-8M is ridculous.
Speaking of grasping, you are one of the few that can grasp, so please, indulge this thinking:
Look and think about these
2 PLAYS at :23 and :54.
At :23, Hawks have ball 2nd and goal at 4. Seattle has 2 TEs left, Graham split wide, 2nd in-line and 2 WRs right. Tenn is in straight man, 4 rushers with a spy on Wilson and a free safety. Guarding Graham on an island is Kevin Byard, a 5-11, 212, 4.46 2nd year, 3rd round safety from Middle Tennessee is starting his 10th game. PFF graded him as high quality in 2017. If Graham is a RZ threat, the young, short Byard presents a solid mismatch. Now watch the safety. With Graham to his right, he is shaded left and on the snap moves left. It was schemed for Byard to cover Graham with ZERO HELP. Result: Graham can’t get separation and pass to him is INC.
At :54 Seattle has ball 1st and Goal at the 8, nothing fancy, just a straight 2x2 with 3 WRs [Baldwin, Richardson, Lockett] and Graham in left slot. Tenn. is in straight man, with a 4 man rush, MLB spying on Wilson and 1 free safety. Rookie LB Jayon Brown has man coverage on Graham.
Jayon Brown is a mid 5th round (#155) rookie playing in his third game. He’s a LB, 5-11, 231 4.70, a productive player in college minus the physical tools typically needed to succeed. His PFF grade for 2017 was POOR.
Why would a TENN DC cover Graham with this guy? This is a dream, unbelievable mismatch, Graham on Jayon Brown. It’s as easy a TD as anyone will ever get in an NFL RZ.
And watch the safety, again! Graham is on his right and he is not shading to Graham; on the snap he breaks left. Result: Graham runs into EZ beaks inside toward the coverage and Wilson anticipating Graham would break away from coverage threw correctly to the outside correctly for an INC. The dopey Graham ran a basic route wrong and if he did this anywhere but the back of EZ, it’s probably an INT.
This is only 2 bad plays, but the point I’m making is that the Titans’ defense showed ZERO respect for Graham’s RZ prowess. The Titans have never played a Seattle team with Graham, they play only once every 4 years. When a team faces an uncommon opponent, the pro scouting department goes to work. They’ve been reviewing the Seattle tape during the summer and focused big time on Seattle weeks 1 and 2 tape. Clearly, the Titans pro scouting department and the Defensive staff decided that they could cover Graham with average to poor cover guys and still NOT need to provide any help whatsoever.
When Titans learned Graham was a FA, their GM asked input from his pro scouting department to ascertain Graham’s worth. I assure you after getting the report that reflected the above referenced coverages, Tennessee would not pay more than a plugged nickel for Graham. And what the Tennessee staff saw, so did the other 31 teams, including Seattle. In 2017, the Eagles, SF, Indy, Htn, Jax, Dallas, Rams, Cards, Giants, Washington, and Atl all played Graham the same way. 13 of 13 scouting departments would all be reporting to their GM, “Buy low on Jimmy.”
13 of 13 scouting departments do not think Graham is a receiving threat. And unlike 99% of normal FAs, Graham’s weaknesses are so glaring THEY COST GAMES! Even if he gets 1200 yards receiving; he not as valuable as a TE that gets 300 yards but plays well for 600 snaps. Graham is just such a tool. Just look at the 4 INTs he caused. Don’t you remember the fun made of him when he played us? Play 1 Blanketed by Dix; Play2, House blows up Graham on outside run and makes tackle for -3; and Play 3, Graham doubles Perry, Perry pushes thru Graham for a sack easier than Mike Bennett pushed thru that 66 year old paraplegic. Juxtaposed to Marty Bennett on our 1st TD.After a Seattle turnover at 3, their defense was on side line jumping around whipping themselves into a frenzy to stop us. Monty ran behind Bennett, who pushed their defensive end 4 yards into EZ; that is how a 7.5M TE plays . NFL teams just don’t give 30M/3yr deals to softies like Graham.
Wilkerson had 98 pressures in 2015, arguably the best season ever by a DLman. He’s been an average player in ’16 and ’17 and all he gets is 1 yr $5M w/ incentives. And DLmen make A LOT more than TEs. The best deal Graham was going to ever get was near min plus incentives; but if that’s what GB offered he’s not coming to GB. If GB thought they could do something with him and paid an extra $2-3M, the street would be more understanding.