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Bears sign TE Jimmy Graham, 2 years 16 million


TankWilliams

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I'd genuinely rather have signed nobody at TE and hope a healthy Burton turns it around, than pay Jimmy Graham $8m a year. Honestly, I haven't given up on Burton, if (and I know this looks like a big 'if' now) he gets back to 100%, he could still be an important part of this offense. Now I'm worried he's getting cut and instead we're paying his money to some guy who used to be Jimmy Graham.

Don't know if I'm on my own on Burton corner, but the pessimist in me says this is gonna come back to bite us when he plays well for some other team in 2020.

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2 hours ago, RJ_11 said:

I'd genuinely rather have signed nobody at TE and hope a healthy Burton turns it around, than pay Jimmy Graham $8m a year. Honestly, I haven't given up on Burton, if (and I know this looks like a big 'if' now) he gets back to 100%, he could still be an important part of this offense. Now I'm worried he's getting cut and instead we're paying his money to some guy who used to be Jimmy Graham.

Don't know if I'm on my own on Burton corner, but the pessimist in me says this is gonna come back to bite us when he plays well for some other team in 2020.

I think Burton is done and I wouldn’t have signed Jimmy Graham.

My problem is that you spent 9 million guaranteed and didn’t really impact your draft needs. You still have no long term TE.

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On the bright side, all this negativity doesn’t help.  What is done is done.  Go back and watch Packers v Seattle in playoffs.  Graham played quite well.  

In other games it looks like he is open quite a bit early, Rodgers just holds the ball or has tunnel vision for Adams.  

He might be well suited for a quick passing game which is an aspect Bears were really missing last year. 

We way over paid, but Cap hit isn’t too bad.  

 

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23 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

I think Burton is done and I wouldn’t have signed Jimmy Graham.

My problem is that you spent 9 million guaranteed and didn’t really impact your draft needs. You still have no long term TE.

Oh yeah don't get me wrong, even if I had 0 belief that Burton could come back, I still would not want us giving this much to Jimmy Graham.

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3 hours ago, dll2000 said:

On the bright side, all this negativity doesn’t help.  What is done is done.  Go back and watch Packers v Seattle in playoffs.  Graham played quite well.  

In other games it looks like he is open quite a bit early, Rodgers just holds the ball or has tunnel vision for Adams.  

He might be well suited for a quick passing game which is an aspect Bears were really missing last year. 

We way over paid, but Cap hit isn’t too bad.  

 

This is what happens when too many teams have too much cap space and are chasing too little top talent.

If it makes anyone feel better Dallas just gave a 3 yr/24.5 mil contract to this guy.

https://www.dallascowboys.com/team/players-roster/blake-jarwin/career

The word on Graham is he doesn't have the legs to create much separation any longer but if we can use him effectively as the red zone/end zone target Shaheen was supposed to become we may at least get our monies worth via scoring.  The TE cupboard is kinda bare and if anyone over paid I'd say it was Cleveland for Hooper.  But that won't last long.  Not when top WRs are getting $100 mil deals.

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Sorry guys.  After watching Graham for two years, here is what I have for you.

  • He's not as terrible a blocker as he's made out to be.  He's not good, but he's also not terrible.
  • He's cooked athletically.  He can't really run anymore.  Or jump.
  • Catch radius isn't there, he is pretty bad on 50/50 balls or jump balls.
  • Worst trait is one that hasn't been mentioned.  He almost retired this off-season.  I doubt that his heart is there anymore.  He's cashing paychecks.
  • Think of this...GB had one receiver the last two years.  Adams.  And still Graham couldn't get targets.
  • When Adams was injured, GB featured Aaron Jones (RB) at WR instead of targeting Graham.

I didn't feel like he was a "vets minimum" kind of player, but I thought his ceiling was a one year deal at about 4.5M.  To get two years and guaranteed money is kind of shocking to me.

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5 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

Sorry guys.  After watching Graham for two years, here is what I have for you.

  • He's not as terrible a blocker as he's made out to be.  He's not good, but he's also not terrible.
  • He's cooked athletically.  He can't really run anymore.  Or jump.
  • Catch radius isn't there, he is pretty bad on 50/50 balls or jump balls.
  • Worst trait is one that hasn't been mentioned.  He almost retired this off-season.  I doubt that his heart is there anymore.  He's cashing paychecks.
  • Think of this...GB had one receiver the last two years.  Adams.  And still Graham couldn't get targets.
  • When Adams was injured, GB featured Aaron Jones (RB) at WR instead of targeting Graham.

I didn't feel like he was a "vets minimum" kind of player, but I thought his ceiling was a one year deal at about 4.5M.  To get two years and guaranteed money is kind of shocking to me.

GO BEARS!

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10 hours ago, WindyCity said:

I just don’t see how this gives the Bears flexibility in the draft.

I think the flexibility it provides is that they don’t necessarily have to take one high with the expectation of day 1 contribution. I think we’re still taking a TE in the draft for sure unless we also sign Ebron and then release Burton.

At minimum Graham even if Burton is not active week 1 gives you a guy who can actually play the position and requires defensive attention. Once Burton was out that wasn’t the case at all last year.

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So how are they going to use him? That’s what really matters here, right?

Graham can still post up LBs and safeties for short to intermediate gains much in the way we saw a lot of 5-7 yard stop routes to Robinson last year. If he’s good for a conversion or two on 3rd and medium next year a week I think that provides far more to our offense than one might think. We had nooooooobody last year besides Robinson who could consistently fill that role, and if it’s Mitch which it seems at least initially it will be that’s something he definitely can use. Beyond that, if Graham is able to provide that then ARob will be freed up to not have to do that so often. Lack of trust in his targets other than Robinson to make a play on a 50/50 type pass last year was a big problem for Mitch - it led to forcing the ball to 12 constantly. I think Graham gives Mitch (if it’s still him) a guy he can trust in that capacity.

I’m less concerned with the stat line with Graham than I am the impact on the offense. If Graham gives us 3 catches and 25 yards every week but 2 of those catches are 3rd down conversions we probably don’t make last year then that adds real value. Not $8M a year value, but something clearly tangible we were sorely missing. Can’t imagine it was just me but it felt like we stalled out on offense in plus territory between the 50 and 30 at least once a week in 2019. Every 3rd down conversion Graham can add there is maybe the difference between points and punting, and maybe between winning and losing. 

Like I said a lot yesterday - the add makes sense to me. I just don’t like the price tag at all. 

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