Jimmy Graham built an unbreakable reputation as a top-tier receiver during his time in New Orleans, and now that he’s been shipped off to the northwestern corner of the country, it seems as though he may be gearing up to take flight like he never has before.
According to Scout.com scribe Rob Rang, Graham has looked “unstoppable” during OTAs. While it is just t-shirts and shorts, it makes sense that Graham would flourish even more with Seattle, a run-first team, than New Orleans, a pass-heavy team.
Why? It’s simple—he’s not one of the only dangerous players in the offense anymore.
You’d have a hard time convincing anyone (except Nawlins’ front office) that Graham wasn’t the Saints’ TE AND No. 1 receiver, making him the first piece defenses would try to take away and eliminate from impacting the game.
They did have Darren Sproles making some nice plays for them, but even he didn’t take much heat off of Graham.
Now that he’s with the ‘Hawks, he’s paired with a rather solid corps of receivers and one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL with Marshawn Lynch. Not to mention Russell Wilson, who, as a mobile quarterback, can now wreak havoc with JG on bootlegs, rollouts, fake QB runs, etc. Because they added Graham, they added balance. And because they have balance, it will open up things for them in both the passing game and in the running game.
Graham has greatly shifted the dynamic of Seattle’s offense for the better, and it will be interesting to see what they can do in 2015.