On top of everything else Jimmy Graham appears to be — an instant upgrade to the Seattle Seahawks’ passing game, the NFL’s most accomplished tight end the last two seasons, a business-degree holder from a double major and a licensed pilot — Seattle’s newest star is a multitasker. And a quick learner.
During two days of flying his private plane to the gulf coast of Florida, having his career uprooted from the only team he’s known in New Orleans, having someone else fly him to the opposite corner of the country, passing a physical, meeting his new coach, general manager and Seahawks staff, seeing his new city of Seattle and then flying all the way back to Florida, he somehow has already nailed why he’s a Seahawk. And why Seattle traded its two-time Pro Bowl center Max Unger and its first-round draft pick for him:
To loosen up the stuffed-at-the-line schemes defenses use to combat the running of Marshawn Lynch and jam the Seahawks’ wide receivers.
Graham expects to change the way teams defend the Seahawks’ entire offense.
“I’ve been watching some film and it seems like a lot of teams play a lot of cover zero (both safeties crowding the line of scrimmage, zero in the middle of the field) against them because of Marshawn Lynch and because the read-option is so good,” Graham said of Lynch’s combination runs with quarterback Russell Wilson. “Marshawn, you have to put guys in the box. You have to bring safeties down. And so when you’re playing cover zero, there’s a lot of one-on-one, there’s a lot of opportunities down the field, there’s a lot of opportunities in that middle section where you’ll have guys on these one-on-one matchups.
“I think eventually teams won’t be able to do that. You’re not going to be able to go cover zero just to stop the run. I think I can help open that up.”
Graham also hit on a corollary reason he’s now a $40 million Seahawk, a reason head coach Pete Carroll mentioned Tuesday: Specifically to catch balls inside the opponents’ 20- and 10-yard lines. Seattle was 21st in the NFL in touchdown percentage from inside the red zone (51.7 percent) and 29th in TDs on goal-to-go plays last season.
The towering former four-year basketball player at the University of Miami can out-leap and box-out smaller defenders near the goal line. The idea is that all those 30-yard field goals by Steven Hauschka Seattle had last season will become double the points on more touchdowns. Actual, Wilson-throws-the-ball-into-the-end-zone scores.
“In the red zone, that’s something I’ve always been good at. I’m 6-7, 260 pounds, and most of those are like a rebound for me,” said Graham, who became one of eight players in University of Miami hoops history with 100 career blocked shots. “So I’m looking to fit in anywhere they need me.
“You know, I’m a team player and I’m all about winning. Wherever they want me and whatever they want me to do, I’m 100 percent on board — and that’s with anything.”
So what, he says, that he’s going from a Saints team that had Drew Brees throwing the second-most passes in the league last season to the Seattle team that threw it the fewest times, 200 fewer times than New Orleans..
“In New Orleans, we’ve really been slinging the rock. But like I said a minute ago, it’s all about winning,” Graham said. “It’s all about having an opportunity and a chance to win a championship and that’s what I care about.
“If a team needs me to catch 100 footballs or a team needs me to catch 30, or a team needs me to catch 15 touchdowns or five touchdowns, I’m gonna do it. I’m going to do whatever it takes to win. I’m not complaining at all about any of that. I just want to be a part of this team and I want to be there in big moments for this team and this franchise to help us win games.”
Thomas will be ready
Carroll said on Seattle’s KJR radio Friday that All-Pro safety Earl Thomas “absolutely” will be ready for the start of the regular season on the second weekend of September. Thomas had surgery last month to repair torn labrum in the left shoulder he dislocated during the NFC championship Jan. 18. He played through it in that game and the Super Bowl Feb. 1.
The coach said nickel back Jeremy Lane may not be ready for the start of the regular season. Lane had surgery to repair a shattered left wrist and torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He got both those injuries at the end of his return of an end-zone interception of Tom Brady in the first quarter of Super Bowl 49.
Cornerback Tharold Simon is likely to be ready for the regular season. He recently had shoulder surgery, from an injury he played through during the postseason.
Seeking a new center
Oakland free-agent center-guard Stefen Wisniewski visited the Seahawks Thursday, but has yet to sign with anyone.
“That’s a potential,” Carroll said. “We’ll see where it goes”
Wisniewski, who turns 26 next week, is a candidate to replace Unger. He played guard at Penn State and in his rookie year of 2011 with Oakland, so he could also replace James Carpenter. Carpenter left this past week on a free-agent deal with the New York Jets.
Carroll said in the wake of Unger’s departure the offensive line will obviously be “a big focal point” for preseason competition. He said again Friday, as he did immediately after the trade on Tuesday, that he and his staff like the like Seattle’s incumbent linemen, including Patrick Lewis, who at one point last season was the fourth-string center — and that if the Seahawks didn’t feel that way with the blockers they already have they wouldn’t have traded Unger. The coach added the Seahawks see next month’s as “a very good draft” for offensive linemen.
Extra points
Carroll said the Seahawks want to bring back unrestricted free-agent quarterback Tarvaris Jackson as Wilson’s backup, and the team is negotiating now for that to happen. … Asked who might be the punt returner now that free-agent Bryan Walters signed with Jacksonville Friday, Carroll mentioned practice-squad quarterback B.J. Daniels is an option for that and for kickoff returns. It’s obvious — by that comment and by the Seahawks promoting Daniels to the active roster in the most recent playoffs — the coaches want to reward Daniels for what they’ve said was an outstanding season of practicing in 2014.
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