Its official, Jimmy Graham is franchised as a TE, not WR

maybe its not official.

Jimmy Graham just appealed the ruling.

@RapSheet
#Saints TE Jimmy Graham has officially appealed the ruling that stated he’ll be paid as a franchise-tagged TE not WR, source said.

latest word on the wire is the Saints are set to make Graham the highest paid TE in the league with a guarantee between 25 and 30 mil....

Jimmy Graham has appealed tight end title, but he is nearing a deal with the New Orleans Saints - espn

All Graham is doing is proving to me why Gronk is better than Jimmy Graham.

If Jimmy Graham was a Patriot and played more than 2/3 of his snaps outside, the league would have ruled him a TE and it would be the Pats who needed to appeal.

Graham got a new contract. 4 years, $40 million with $21 million guaranteed.

Jimmy Graham, New Orleans Saints reach agreement - espn

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2014: $7.5M

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2015: $21.3M

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sciz said:

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2013: $7.5M

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2014: $21.3M

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

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NO better hope they nail the next couple of drafts.

What's Bress' s cap hit next year?

AzorianPats said:

NO better hope they nail the next couple of drafts.

What's Bress' s cap hit next year?

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$18.4M

New Orleans Saints Salary Cap - 2014 Breakdown - Spotrac.com

Sciz said:

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2013: $7.5M

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2014: $21.3M

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Click to expand...

I don't know Graham's 2014 cap hit. Do you?

Byrd's 2014 cap hit is $3.5M.

New Orleans Saints Salary Cap - 2014 Breakdown - Spotrac.com

I doubt that Graham's 2014 cap hit will be more than $6.5M.

Seems like a reasonable deal for a limited receiving TE, even if he is the best of his "kind". But the devil is in the details with most of these deals, and they rarely look as good after the fact as they do at first glance.

All this makes Gronk, who is just as good a receiver and three times the blocker, even more of a bargain, even with an $8MM roster bonus due in a couple of years.

mgteich said:

I don't know Graham's 2014 cap hit. Do you?

Byrd's 2014 cap hit is $3.5M.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/cap/

I doubt that Graham's 2014 cap hit will be more than $6.5M.

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Graham gets a $12M signing bonus, which is amortized over the 4 years of his contract ($3M each year) and a $1M base salary in 2014, so his 2014 cap hit is $4M:

Graham gets $13 million this year, $8 million next year | ProFootballTalk

His 2015 base salary is $8M (which becomes fully guaranteed on the 3rd day of the 2015 waiver period), so he will have an $11M cap hit next year.

mgteich said:

I don't know Graham's 2014 cap hit. Do you?

Byrd's 2014 cap hit is $3.5M.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/cap/

I doubt that Graham's 2014 cap hit will be more than $6.5M.

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But God, MG. But even if that's the truth, the expansion of their cap numbers down the road is going to be horrific. The best general strategy is to only pay for what you can afford right now.

It looks like the Saints are starting to build a really nice defense for the immediate future. Its a shame that the will be unlikely to keep it.

patfanken said:

But God, MG. But even if that's the truth, the expansion of their cap numbers down the road is going to be horrific. The best general strategy is to only pay for what you can afford right now.

It looks like the Saints are starting to build a really nice defense for the immediate future. Its a shame that the will be unlikely to keep it.

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The Saints will have almost $60M in 2015 cap space tied up in 4 players:

- QB Drew Brees: 2015 cap hit $26.4M, dead money if cut/traded $14.8M
- TE Jimmy Graham: 2015 cap hit $11M, dead money if cut/traded $9M
- OG Jahri Evans: 2015 cap hit $11M, dead money if cut/traded $5M
- S Jarius Byrd: 2015 cap hit $10.3M, dead money if cut/traded $14.8M

The Pats' top cap numbers for 2014 right now are Brady ($13M), Mankins ($11M, but only $4M dead money hit if cut) and Mayo ($10.6M). Of course, as of right now Darrelle Revis would have a $25M cap hit if the Pats exercised their option, though that situation will likely change one way or another.

mayoclinic said:

The Pats' top cap numbers for 2014 right now are
Brady ($13M), Mankins ($11M, but only $4M dead money hit if cut) and Mayo ($10.6M). Of course, as of right now Darrelle Revis would have a $25M cap hit if the Pats exercised their option, though that situation will likely change one way or another.

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FWIW, I look at it the same way as the Randy Moss trade. I'm not going to worry about 2015 until I have to; for now, I'm just going to enjoy the present.

mgteich said:

I don't know Graham's 2014 cap hit. Do you?

Byrd's 2014 cap hit is $3.5M.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/cap/

I doubt that Graham's 2014 cap hit will be more than $6.5M.

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Oops, I was off by a year. Both are quite cheap in 2014, and almost 3x in 2015.

Sciz said:

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2014: $7.5M

Graham and Byrd combined cap hits in 2015: $21.3M

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

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Doesn't Brees' cap hit jump up to $26+M in 2015 as well?

The following guys have high 2015 base salaries, my guess would be that some (or a lot) of them will be on the chopping block:

Jahri Evans: $6.8M base, $11M cap hit
Ben Grubs: $6.5M base, $9.6M cap hit
Marques Colston: $6.9M base, $9.7M cap hit
Cameron Jordan: $7M base, $7M cap hit < his last year before UFA, so prime restructure/extension candidate
Brodrick Bunkley: $4.4M base, $6.1M cap hit
Curtis Lofton: $2.4M base, $9M cap hit
Junior Galette: $1.4M base, $2.9M cap hit
Thomas Morstead: $2.4M base, $3.4M cap hit

Plus Mark Ingram will be an UFA after this year, so if he turns out to actually be good they may have to resign him.

mayoclinic said:

The Saints will have almost $60M in 2015 cap space tied up in 4 players:

- QB Drew Brees: 2015 cap hit $26.4M, dead money if cut/traded $14.8M
- TE Jimmy Graham: 2015 cap hit $11M, dead money if cut/traded $9M
- OG Jahri Evans: 2015 cap hit $11M, dead money if cut/traded $5M
- S Jarius Byrd: 2015 cap hit $10.3M, dead money if cut/traded $14.8M

The Pats' top cap numbers for 2014 right now are Brady ($13M), Mankins ($11M, but only $4M dead money hit if cut) and Mayo ($10.6M). Of course, as of right now Darrelle Revis would have a $25M cap hit if the Pats exercised their option, though that situation will likely change one way or another.

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Might as well add Colston, Grubbs and Lofton to that list too since they all have cap hits >$9M. That's $87M tied up between 7 guys.

This is exactly why pretty much nobody understood where they got the money for Byrd.

It appears the strategy is to ride these cheap year one cap hits as long as they can. They'll likely do the same with Cameron Jordan next year to lower that $7M in the last year of his contract into a $4M cap hit that jumps to $12M in 2016, approximately.

I am not sure how the deal structure beaks out but 4 years/$40M for Jimmy Graham does not seem that unreasonable. He is as productive as any WR in the league.

Over The Cap - Top NFL Contracts - Wide Receiver