Pete Carroll: We’d love to get more from Jimmy Graham

No one thought that Jimmy Graham’s role in the Seattle offense would be an exact replica of his role with the Saints, but it’s probably safe to say that most people thought he’d be playing a different role than he’s played through the first five weeks of the season.

Graham has 21 catches for 204 yards on the year and has been targeted just 27 times, including five times in last Sunday’s loss to the Bengals. None of those targets came in the final quarter-plus when the Seahawks were trying to hold off a Bengals comeback in regulation or when they were trying to win the game in overtime, which Seahawks coach Pete Carroll addressed by saying the team could “use more” from Graham.

“We’d love to get more,” Carroll said, via Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com. “We’d love to get more from everybody. I’d love to get the ball in his hands more. He did well in this game, but we could use more. We only completed 15 passes in this game, so we need to get more activity out of him, just like we need to get more out of the other guys too. But he’s working hard at it.”

A breakdown of Graham’s role in the offense shows that he’s lining up as an in-line tight end and going out for passes far less often than he was with New Orleans. That was expected, but he’s also being targeted less often than he was with the Saints and that’s a little harder to figure after weakening their offensive line and giving up a first-round pick to add Graham and his salary to the roster.

While it’s understandable that the Seahawks would love get more from Graham, they probably have to give a little more if they’re going to get it.


(profootballtalk.com)