Yesterday I ran a fairly unflattering item on Jimmy Graham, pointing out that he hasn't been a big part of the passing game for three different teams in the last four seasons. And that's true, and maybe the Bears could do better things with the money they're paying him in 2021. But in fairness, the guy is pretty good at scoring touchdowns.
As Ian pointed out in the comments, Graham caught 8 touchdowns last season, and another one in Chicago's playoff loss to his original team, the Saints. In his heyday, Graham was a monster in this regard, catching 46 touchdowns in a four-year span from 2011 through 2014. And even more recently, he's still been pretty good in that regard.
True, he caught only 5 touchdowns in his two wasted seasons with the Packers. But those were bookended by 10 and 8 touchdowns with Seattle in 2017 and Chicago last year. Over those same four seasons I spoke disparagingly about yesterday, Graham's 23 touchdown receptions rank 4th among all tight ends. If Aaron Rodgers had looked his way just a little more often, he'd behind only Travis Kelce.
TIGHT END RECEIVING TOUCHDOWNS, 2017-2020 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Tgt | No | Yds | TD |
Travis Kelce | 62 | 553 | 388 | 5019 | 34 |
Eric Ebron | 58 | 339 | 206 | 2257 | 25 |
Jared Cook | 61 | 312 | 202 | 2793 | 24 |
Jimmy Graham | 64 | 321 | 200 | 2059 | 23 |
Zach Ertz | 56 | 473 | 314 | 3238 | 23 |
Mark Andrews | 45 | 236 | 156 | 2105 | 20 |
Kyle Rudolph | 60 | 248 | 188 | 1867 | 19 |
Cameron Brate | 64 | 215 | 142 | 1473 | 18 |
Rob Gronkowski | 43 | 254 | 161 | 2389 | 18 |
Darren Fells | 64 | 114 | 83 | 947 | 17 |
Austin Hooper | 58 | 320 | 241 | 2408 | 17 |
Jonnu Smith | 60 | 169 | 114 | 1302 | 16 |
Trey Burton | 52 | 178 | 119 | 1151 | 14 |
O.J. Howard | 42 | 159 | 105 | 1602 | 14 |
George Kittle | 53 | 369 | 264 | 3579 | 14 |
Jack Doyle | 51 | 246 | 172 | 1634 | 13 |
Evan Engram | 50 | 356 | 216 | 2420 | 13 |
Hunter Henry | 40 | 231 | 160 | 1844 | 13 |
Robert Tonyan | 43 | 80 | 66 | 763 | 13 |
Dallas Goedert | 42 | 196 | 137 | 1465 | 12 |
Darren Waller | 36 | 268 | 203 | 2416 | 12 |
Mike Gesicki | 47 | 206 | 126 | 1475 | 11 |
Tyler Higbee | 62 | 228 | 162 | 1842 | 11 |
Tyler Kroft | 42 | 98 | 64 | 630 | 11 |
David Njoku | 49 | 187 | 112 | 1279 | 11 |
Jason Witten | 48 | 187 | 139 | 1158 | 11 |
So I owe Jimmy Graham an apology. Yes he doesn't move as well as he used to, and he won't be a big factor between the 20s this season. But if he is back in Chicago, or wherever he plays, it seems like bad business to bet against him scoring 6-8 touchdowns, or more. Pretty good scorer, not only in his prime, but even now.
--Andy Richardson