Chicago Bears Sign Veteran Tight End Jimmy Graham to 2 Year Contract

Introduction

The Chicago Bears have reportedly agreed to terms to sign veteran superstar tight end, Jimmy Graham, to a 2 year contract worth up to $16 million. This new deal includes $9 million in guaranteed money as well. Although he is a tight end, he plays the position more like a wide receiver, and he is known to be a reliable pass catcher who contributes enormous offensive production for his former teams including the New Orleans Saints, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Green Bay Packers.

After two seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Graham was released by the Packers on March 12th, 2020 ultimately resulting in him becoming an unrestricted free agent entering the upcoming 2020 – 2021 NFL season. Prior to Green Bay releasing the North Carolina native he was the highest paid tight end in the National Football League as he was averaging $10 million annually.

For this upcoming NFL season his previous contract would have him taking up the second most salary cap space for a tight end in the league at $11,666,668. Behind only the great Zach Ertz of the Philadelphia Eagles who demands $12.232 million in cap space for the 2020 – 2021 NFL season. Although Graham’s numbers indicate his production has been decreasing over the last few seasons with the Green Bay Packers, the 33 year old crafty veteran is still known as one of the most valuable tight ends in the National Football League.

The Chicago Bears are hoping he can have a bounce back season similar to his time with the Seattle Seahawks or when he was at his best playing for the Drew Brees led New Orleans Saints. According to ESPN, “Graham is the only tight end in NFL history to have two seasons with 1,200-plus receiving yards and 10-plus receiving touchdowns (2011, 2013 with the New Orleans Saints), and he is the only tight end to register four consecutive seasons with 85-plus catches (2011-14, all with the Saints).”

In all honesty the Chicago Bears would be highly satisfied with approximately 60 to 70 percent of those numbers above. Especially coming off an extremely rough 2019 – 2020 NFL season where the Bears offense struggled to put points up on the board. Graham should help with his leadership in the locker room as well. He is a cagey veteran player who has been on some very successful teams over the course of his illustrious career so he knows what it takes to win. I am excited to see him hopefully have a career come back year and help the Chicago Bears make it back to the NFL postseason.

Graham's NFL Career Statistics

Receiving and Rushing

					Games		Receiving											Rushing								Total Yds
Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	1D	Lng	R/G	Y/G	Ctch%	Y/Tgt	Rush	Yds	TD	1D	Lng	Y/A	Y/G	A/G	Touch	Y/Tch	YScm	RRTD	Fmb	AV
2010	24	NOR	te	80	15	5	44	31	356	11.5	5	21	52	2.1	23.7	70.50%	8.1	1	3	0	1	3	3	0.2	0.1	32	11.2	359	5	1	3
2011*	25	NOR	TE	80	16	11	149	99	1310	13.2	11	74	59	6.2	81.9	66.40%	8.8									99	13.2	1310	11	1	13
2012	26	NOR	TE	80	15	9	135	85	982	11.6	9	59	46	5.7	65.5	63.00%	7.3									85	11.6	982	9	1	8
2013*+	27	NOR	TE/wr	80	16	12	142	86	1215	14.1	16	61	56	5.4	75.9	60.60%	8.6									86	14.1	1215	16	0	11
2014*	28	NOR	TE	80	16	13	125	85	889	10.5	10	54	29	5.3	55.6	68.00%	7.1									85	10.5	889	10	2	8
2015	29	SEA	TE	88	11	11	74	48	605	12.6	2	29	45	4.4	55	64.90%	8.2									48	12.6	605	2	0	6
2016*	30	SEA	TE	88	16	15	95	65	923	14.2	6	45	42	4.1	57.7	68.40%	9.7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.1	66	14	923	6	2	8
2017*	31	SEA	TE	88	16	13	96	57	520	9.1	10	34	33	3.6	32.5	59.40%	5.4									57	9.1	520	10	0	4
2018	32	GNB	TE	80	16	12	89	55	636	11.6	2	32	54	3.4	39.8	61.80%	7.1									55	11.6	636	2	0	5
2019	33	GNB	TE	80	16	10	60	38	447	11.8	3	23	48	2.4	27.9	63.30%	7.5									38	11.8	447	3	1	4
Career					153	111	1009	649	7883	12.1	74	432	59	4.2	51.5	64.30%	7.8	2	3	0	1	3	1.5	0	0	651	12.1	7886	74	8	70
5 yrs		NOR			78	50	595	386	4752	12.3	51	269	59	4.9	60.9	64.90%	8	1	3	0	1	3	3	0	0	387	12.3	4755	51	5	43
3 yrs		SEA			43	39	265	170	2048	12	18	108	45	4	47.6	64.20%	7.7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	171	12	2048	18	2	18
2 yrs		GNB			32	22	149	93	1083	11.6	5	55	54	2.9	33.8	62.40%	7.3									93	11.6	1083	5	1	9

Advanced Receiving and Rushing

					Games		Receiving												Rushing
Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	1D	YBC	YBC/R	YAC	YAC/R	BrkTkl	Rec/Br	Drop	Drop%	Rush	Yds	1D	YBC	YBC/Att	YAC	YAC/Att	BrkTkl	Att/Br
2018	32	GNB	TE	80	16	12	89	55	636	32	375	6.8	261	4.7	2	27.5	3	3.4	0	0	0	0		0		0
2019	33	GNB	TE	80	16	10	60	38	447	23	204	5.4	243	6.4	2	19	2	3.3	0	0	0	0		0		0

Playoffs Receiving and Rushing

				Games		Receiving											Rushing								Total Yds
Year	Age	Tm	Pos	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	1D	Lng	R/G	Y/G	Ctch%	Y/Tgt	Rush	Yds	TD	1D	Lng	Y/A	Y/G	A/G	Touch	Y/Tch	YScm	RRTD	Fmb
2011*	25	NOR	TE	2	2	19	12	158	13.2	3	8	66	6	79	63.20%	8.3									12	13.2	158	3	0
2013*+	27	NOR	TE	2	1	10	4	52	13	0	2	21	2	26	40.00%	5.2									4	13	52	0	0
2016*	30	SEA	TE	2	2	7	6	59	9.8	1	4	14	3	29.5	85.70%	8.4									6	9.8	59	1	0
2019	33	GNB	TE	2	1	9	7	108	15.4	0	4	42	3.5	54	77.80%	12									7	15.4	108	0	0
Career				8	6	45	29	377	13	4	18	66	3.6	47.1	64.40%	8.4									29	13	377	4	0
2 yrs		NOR		4	3	29	16	210	13.1	3		66	4	52.5	55.20%	7.2									16	13.1	210	3	0
1 yr		GNB		2	1	9	7	108	15.4	0		42	3.5	54	77.80%	12									7	15.4	108	0	0
1 yr		SEA		2	2	7	6	59	9.8	1		14	3	29.5	85.70%	8.4									6	9.8	59	1	0

Defense and Fumbles

					Games		Def Interceptions					Fumbles						Tackles
Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	Int	Yds	TD	Lng	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	Yds	TD	Sk	Comb	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sfty
2010	24	NOR	te	80	15	5						0	1	1	20	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
2011*	25	NOR	TE	80	16	11						0	1	0	0	0	0
2012	26	NOR	TE	80	15	9						0	1	2	0	0	0
2013*+	27	NOR	TE/wr	80	16	12						0	0	1	-2	0	0
2014*	28	NOR	TE	80	16	13						1	2	0	0	0	0
2016*	30	SEA	TE	88	16	15						0	2	0	0	0	0
2019	33	GNB	TE	80	16	10						0	1	0	0	0	0
Career					153	111						1	8	4	18	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
5 yrs		NOR			78	50						1	5	4	18	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
3 yrs		SEA			43	39						0	2	0	0	0	0
2 yrs		GNB			32	22						0	1	0	0	0	0

Scoring Summary

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	RshTD	RecTD	PR TD	KR TD	FblTD	IntTD	OthTD	AllTD	2PM	2PA	XPM	XPA	FGM	FGA	Sfty	Pts	Pts/G
2010	24	NOR	te	80	15	5		5						5								30
2011*	25	NOR	TE	80	16	11		11						11								66
2012	26	NOR	TE	80	15	9		9						9								54
2013*+	27	NOR	TE/wr	80	16	12		16						16								96
2014*	28	NOR	TE	80	16	13		10						10								60
2015	29	SEA	TE	88	11	11		2						2								12
2016*	30	SEA	TE	88	16	15		6						6								36
2017*	31	SEA	TE	88	16	13		10						10	1							62
2018	32	GNB	TE	80	16	12		2						2								12
2019	33	GNB	TE	80	16	10		3						3								18
Career					153	111		74						74	1							446
5 yrs		NOR			78	50		51						51								306
3 yrs		SEA			43	39		18						18	1							110
2 yrs		GNB			32	22		5						5								30

Playoff Scoring Summary

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	G	GS	RshTD	RecTD	PR TD	KR TD	FblTD	IntTD	OthTD	AllTD	2PM	2PA	XPM	XPA	FGM	FGA	Sfty	Pts	Pts/G
2011*	25	NOR	TE	2	2		3						3								18
2016*	30	SEA	TE	2	2		1						1								6
Career				8	6		4						4								24
2 yrs		NOR		4	3		3						3								18
1 yr		SEA		2	2		1						1								6

Snap Counts

					Games		Off.		Def.		ST
Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	Num	Pct	Num	Pct	Num	Pct
2012	26	NOR	TE	80	15	9	695	63%	0	0%	65	13%
2013*+	27	NOR	TE/wr	80	16	12	754	67%	3	0%	16	4%
2014*	28	NOR	TE	80	16	13	774	68%	0	0%	9	2%
2015	29	SEA	TE	88	11	11	569	53%	0	0%	15	3%
2016*	30	SEA	TE	88	16	15	790	75%	0	0%	5	1%
2017*	31	SEA	TE	88	16	13	729	68%	0	0%	11	2%
2018	32	GNB	TE	80	16	12	795	74%	0	0%	0	0%
2019	33	GNB	TE	80	16	10	622	58%	0	0%	4	1%
Career							5728		3		125
3 yrs		NOR			47	34	2223		3		90
3 yrs		SEA			43	39	2088		0		31
2 yrs		GNB			32	22	1417		0		4

Sources:

“Jimmy Graham goes to Chicago for 2 years, $16M”, espn.com, March 16, 2020.

“Jimmy Graham”, pro-football-reference.com, March 16, 2020.

Written by: David Green

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