Tag: Jimmy Graham

Jimmy Graham’s post-football plan: Row across the Arctic Ocean

Jimmy Graham has lofty ambitions in his post-football plan: Travel to the top of the world and row across the Arctic Ocean

It doesn’t look like Jimmy Graham will be playing for the New Orleans Saints again in 2024, but you never know. He was a surprise addition to the training camp roster last summer and showed he can still play — but his ambitions for the future are bigger than football. Known as an avid aviator, Graham has now explored a passion for traveling the world by sea.

Graham announced Monday that he’s preparing for “The Arctic Challenge,” an endurance rowing project which will pursue a world record by rowing 1,000 miles across the Arctic Ocean in July 2025. Graham is the team’s lead navigator.

“Using this challenge to inspire young people is very meaningful for me,” Graham said in a statement from the organization. “As someone who has experienced homelessness, I recognize the importance of not letting your circumstances define your future. Through this challenge, we will showcase the power of determination, teamwork and resilience, and I am thrilled to use it as a platform for empowering kids to pursue their wildest dreams.”

He is part of a four-person rowing team planning to set out from Tromsø, Norway and travel to Longyearbyen in the country’s Svalbard archipelago, aiming to break the speed record set in 2023 of 15 days, 5 hours, and 32 minutes. Graham and his teammates will spend a year and a half training for the challenge.

It sounds like the experience of a lifetime. The Arctic Ocean is one of the last frontiers — fewer people have rowed across it than those who have walked on the moon. It’s home to a variety of wildlife: seals, seabirds, polar bears, and elusive narwhals and beluga whales among them. Weather conditions and temperatures can be highly variable as the climate changes, and the Arctic Ocean that Graham and his team plans to traverse may look drastically different from the one our grandchildren may live to see. We’ll be keeping an eye on his progress.

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Saints free agent report card: Was Foster Moreau a good veteran signing?

Our New Orleans Saints free agent report card series continues with Foster Moreau. Was signing the veteran tight end a good move?

There weren’t many outside observers expecting the New Orleans Saints to be active in free agency last season, but they were able to add veterans at positions of need like Foster Moreau.

And it made a lot of sense to sign him: Moreau was a favorite target of Derek Carr’s when they were together on the Las Vegas Raiders, he added some much-needed experience to the tight end position, and he was popular among fans as a New Orleans local who played college football at LSU.

But that’s all behind us now. It’s time to keep this series going and evaluate his first season in black and gold, just as we did with running back Jamaal Williams. Here’s Moreau’s 2023 report card:

6 reasons the Saints missed the playoffs in 2023

An inconsistent offense and too-slow defensive line highlight six reasons why the New Orleans Saints missed the playoffs in 2023:

The New Orleans Saints missed the playoffs for the third season in a row. Fingers can be pointed in multiple different directions, and that’s exactly what we’re here to do. Neither side of the ball held up their side of the bargain this year.

The offense didn’t truly get it together until the season was nearing its conclusion, while the defense showed it can’t carry the team. They shouldn’t be relied to do that anymore. These are the six reasons the Saints missed the playoffs.

8 key takeaways from the Saints’ 2023 season

8 important takeaways from the New Orleans Saints’ 2023 season: What we learned after ending another year short of the playoffs

What did you learn about the New Orleans Saints this year? That’s the question we’re looking to answer in our takeaways from the 2023 season, with each of our staff writers sharing notes and observations after reviewing the campaign.

It wasn’t a successful season. The Saints missed the playoffs for the third year in a row after catching so many breaks. But the show must go on, and the team is already preparing for 2024. One last look back might be helpful in identifying what comes next. Here are our thoughts:

Jimmy Graham says goodbye to New Orleans for maybe the last time

Jimmy Graham said goodbye to New Orleans Saints fans for what may be the last time:

Wishes for clear skies and safe travels are in order for Jimmy Graham; the fan-favorite tight end said goodbye to New Orleans Saints fans for what may be the last time on Wednesday, sharing a photo of the Crescent City skyline from his private airplane on social media.

“It’s been real (New Orleans),” Graham wrote, “Thank you for all the love.”

Graham made a surprise return to New Orleans at the start of Saints training camp, coming back to finish his career where it started. Graham only caught 6 passes while playing behind Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau, and Taysom Hill, but he ended his season with 4 touchdown receptions. He converted a first down on each of the other catches.

What’s next for Graham? He had been making preparations to take his sailboat around the world before re-signing with the Saints last summer, so that may be his next stop. After that — maybe the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Graham doesn’t have the All-Pro and Pro Bowl recognition or championship rings of other tight ends to be enshrined in Canton, but his 89 touchdown catches (fourth-most among tight ends in the history of the sport) are tough to ignore. Graham’s eligibility won’t be discussed until 2028, but it’s something we should be looking for when the time comes.

In the meantime: here’s to Jimmy Graham. That he was able to come back to the Saints after being away for so long and still make a positive impact is wildly impressive. If this is it for him, he’s accomplished a career worth reflecting on fondly.

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Former Saints TE Benjamin Watson doesn’t regret playing second fiddle to Jimmy Graham

Former Saints tight end Benjamin Watson doesn’t regret playing second fiddle to Jimmy Graham ‘His success was my success’

A career in pro football is just a job for some guys, but many players forge relationships that last a lifetime, even if they were only teammates for a couple of years. That’s the case for former New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson — who is watching Jimmy Graham go out and score touchdowns each week at around the same age he chose to hang up his cleats.

Watson and Graham played together on the Saints in 2013 and 2014, with Watson stepping in as a quality blocker and seasoned veteran five years Graham’s senior who could mentor the breakout star. And it worked out well with Graham’s 16 touchdown receptions leading the league in 2013.

But it was a humbling experience, Watson says, because he’d always been a starter on his previous teams — as a former first-round draft pick and highly-rated high school recruit, he had already enjoyed a lot of success in football, but here he was being asked to fill the role of a No. 2. But he embraced the opportunity to play on a winning team and did what he could to support Graham, and it ultimately worked out well for both of them.

“I practiced hard with Jimmy, and we pushed ourselves to be better. His success was my success because big-time performances from Jimmy often meant wins for the Saints, and that’s what I really wanted,” Watson wrote on the blog All Pro Dad. “I also learned a lot from Jimmy. Because of him, I would go on to become a better route runner later in my career. I wasn’t in the limelight as often that season, but embracing my role as a team player was worth it.”

Having picked up the playbook and seen how Graham executed his assignments when they were teammates, Watson posted a career-high 825 receiving yards with the Saints in 2015. He returned to the team for their Super Bowl run in 2018 and continued to play an important role on offense, but an untimely case of appendicitis sidelined him for the infamous NFC title game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Watson closed out his career in 2019 with the same New England Patriots team that drafted him way back in 2004, retiring at age 39 as one of the league’s most experienced players. And the way he tells it, the opportunity to work with Graham and learn some new things helped keep him going late into his career.

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WATCH: Jimmy Graham finds the end zone for second straight week

WATCH: Jimmy Graham finds the end zone for second straight week

The New Orleans Saints had the offense rolling against the New York Giants in their Week 15 matchup. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Derek Carr found Jimmy Graham in the end zone for a one-yard touchdown.

That was Graham’s second straight game with a touchdown, as the 37-year-old veteran has emerged as a serious red zone threat. Graham is up to six receptions on the season, with four of them ending in scores.

After spending weeks trying to find things that worked in the red zone, ole reliable peeked in and the answer turned out to be the same one that Drew Brees used in the early 2010s. Graham is limited to a smaller role, because of his age, but should certainly stick around in the game plan.

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Jimmy Graham’s role within the Saints offense should grow outside the red zone

Jimmy Graham has 3 touchdowns on 4 catches. His efficiency in the red zone begs the question: how effective could Graham be outside the 20?

Often times in life, when one question is answered another one arises. New Orleans Saints fans have often asked the question “Will the Saints use Jimmy Graham in the red zone?” all season when the fan-favorite pass-catcher was idling on the bench as a healthy scratch while their offense was failing to end drives with touchdowns.

And over the past two weeks, Graham has been successful enough inside the 20-yard line to create a new question: “Why isn’t he used more often?” Graham played a lot of snaps early in the season when Juwan Johnson was injured (including a staggering 42 of them against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4) but he was asked to work as a run blocker (73 snaps), not a pass catcher (61 snaps), more often than not.

Graham’s success rate in his specialty role as a red zone scoring threat is ridiculous. On the season, he has 4 catches for 3 touchdowns and an additional first down.

Why not expand the role? Graham could be used not just as a red zone specialist but as a weapon on third downs, too. No one should expect him to turn back the clock a decade, but he’s shown enough in a limited capacity to draw more targets. That expansion could help a struggling passing attack that finds itself low on weapons.

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Saints vs Giants: 5 most important storylines in Week 15 game

The hottest story in the NFL comes to New Orleans as the Saints take on Tommy DeVito and the Giants. Our top five storylines to watch in Week 15:

If you had to judge by the tone around the teams, you’d think New Orleans Saints were doing significantly worse than the New York Giants this season. The Saints actually have the better record. However, one team has a backup quarterback who is beloved and the other has a starting quarterback who is loathed. That explains the difference in excitement levels.

That excitement level also translates to interest level, so that’ll be something to watch. In addition to storylines pertaining to the fans, there are also a few storylines to follow that can affect the game. Both teams have a vital receiving threat who is on the fence of playing in this game. Here are the 5 most compelling storylines we’re watching in Week 15:

Week 14’s lopsided Saints-Panthers final score was fool’s gold

The New Orleans Saints may have beaten the Carolina Panthers by 22 points, but they didn’t control the game the way the score would suggest:

The New Orleans Saints are not a good team, but the Carolina Panthers are arguably the worst team in the league. On paper, a 22-point win over Carolina is an appropriate margin of victory. That score is fool’s gold. Derek Carr pointing down to the turf emphatically after a decent throw late in the fourth quarter, as if to say “I do this,” or “This is my house,” was foolish. Even in the moment it didn’t feel as gratifying as the score would read.

It’s because the Saints didn’t play good football, and they likely would have lost if they weren’t facing the Panthers on Sunday. The 6 points scored by Carolina feels pretty accurate. There were some missed opportunities by rookie quarterback Bryce Young, but the New Orleans secondary also made their fair share of plays as well.

Offensively this was a poor performance. 28 points is a trick (and one of those scores came from a head’s-up play on special teams). Carr didn’t have even 40 passing yards until there 8:12 seconds left in the 4th quarter. The offense learning Jimmy Graham is a red zone threat at the end of the season doesn’t take away from how ugly this game was. It all started with a missed field goal on the opening drive. New Orleans scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter that made the score look much better.

They didn’t win this game in dominant fashion. Sunday’s performance was reminiscent of their win over the Bears a month ago. The Saints offense just isn’t effective frequently enough. This is a game you were supposed to control if not dominate. New Orleans didn’t do either. The score would suggest you did both, and that’s why it’s fool’s gold.

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