The biggest trade of the offseason sent tight end Jimmy Graham from the New Orleans Saints to the Seattle Seahawks. What can we expect from Graham with the Seahawks and what impact will his addition have on players like Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and his former quarterback Drew Brees?
Jimmy Graham’s Production
Last year, Graham caught 85 balls for 889 yards and 10 TDs. He was targeted 124 times by Brees. While his numbers were good last year, they were down from 2013 when he had 16 touchdowns and 1,215 yards. He scored 9 TDs in 2012 and 11 TDs in 2011. If you simply take the average then you would count on Graham for scoring at least 10 TDs in 2015 with Seattle.
Graham in the Seattle Offense
The Seahawks are a run-first offense with Marshawn Lynch and that is not going to change in 2015, but there is no question they will throw the ball more now that they have Graham. The Seahawks have no big name receivers so when quarterback Russell Wilson drops back he is going to be looking first for Graham.
The Saints threw the ball 200 more times than Seattle did last season so Graham is not going to get as many targets but don’t forget that Doug Baldwin got nearly 100 targets last season for Seattle. Graham should be in that range this season. The concern could be in the red zone, as with New Orleans he was getting a lot of action from Brees. In fact, Graham as a total of 9 TD catches of one yard in his career. He will now be competing with Marshawn Lynch for those TDs in 2015.
Russell Wilson
There is no question that Jimmy Graham is going to make Russell Wilson a better fantasy quarterback. Wilson has never before had any receiving options who were in the class of Graham. Wilson should throw more TDs than last season and he could challenge Andrew Luck for the best fantasy football quarterback in 2015.
Wilson was the third highest scoring quarterback in fantasy football last season but he threw just 20 TD passes. Wilson’s big value was in running as he ran for 6 TDs and more than 800 yards. He should now be even better in terms of passing TDs in 2015 with Graham in the offense.
Marshawn Lynch
Lynch was the third-best running back in fantasy football a year ago behind only DeMarco Murray and Le’Veon Bell. He scored 13 rushing touchdowns to tie for the league lead. His numbers are almost assuredly going to be worse in 2015 simply because Graham will steal some of his red zone scores. Lynch had more than half of the team’s 30 red zone scores last season. He won’t get nearly as many chances in 2015.
Drew Brees
Not to be forgotten in the discussion of Graham is his former quarterback. There is no question that Brees will miss his favorite target. The aging veteran is on the downside of his career anyway and the loss of Graham definitely won’t help him in 2015. Brees was the 6th best fantasy football quarterback in 2014 and it would not be a surprise if he fell out of the Top 10 without Graham in the offense.
