Max Unger and 1st for Jimmy Graham and 4th round pick

[Ozzy]

LJP is totally experienced and has manned that spot well.[/quote]

This above and for those worried about implementing a TE in the offense.....we've never had a TE like Graham. I'm sure Pete will find a way to get Graham the ball. People are going to love this move next year, bank on it.

 

[themunn]

Also, chill about his targets. Miller stayed in to block a lot because he was really good at blocking. Jimmy Graham is better at receiving than Miller was at blocking - he'll essentially be our number 1 receiver, but on a TE salary

 

[jhern87]

Cable will find someone to play center.. I think finding a big guy that can go up and get it like Graham is much harder to find. Graham, Kearse and Mathews all have big play ability. Love this move.

 

[sam1313]

$9 million a year, with only $7.9 mil guaranteed? That sounds like a pretty good deal to me, especially given our success in the 4th round, the play of LPJ, the injuries/poor play of Unger (at over $4 million a year if I recall correctly), and the fact that Graham checks so many boxes the team needs to check (even if he has been a whuss at times). If he is a crybaby we cut him, and all we really lost was our overpaid center.

 

[volsunghawk]

So in other words, Schneider still has all the picks he had before, but one of them is about 75 spots lower than it was before, and we traded an oft-injured, albeit good, center for one of the league's top TEs.

I guess the question becomes whether you think Graham can have a bigger impact on our offensive output than Unger did. Does Graham's ability as a weapon outweigh Unger's run blocking and line calls?

 

[mikeak]

I don't see how anyone can be upset about this deal.

$$$$$$$

Spotrac numbers are down but looked like $30 million first three years on a four year deal with not a lot hitting year 1

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I do think Unger's health was a big factor in this trade, and why ultimately he was expendable.

How many games did he miss last year? Like 9 or 10?

 

[Cyrus12]

add wiesnewski and a depth receiver or 2. never seen this coming...

 

[jake206]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DavidMulugheta/status/575388698893647872[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/BIrvin_WVU11/status/575388362200190976[/tweet]

 

[Blitzer88]

Man..............I don't know about this, oline just took another huge hit with Max gone and we have never been able to successfully implement a TE into our offense.................I don't really understand this. I am sure we could of gotten Jordan Cameron for far less and still have Max and our first rd pick.

You're being a downer just to be a downer.

We have the most elite TE in the NFL in a long time. RW needs a TE, this changes the dynamic.

Who needs an O-line when you can throw it up to Graham?

Chill out.

I'd not being a downer to just be a downer. We already had a shaky oline and now we lose one of our better guys, granted he did get hurt often, but when he was in there, as someone pointed out earlier, we gave up fewer sacks and averaged 50 more yards rushing with him in there. And I think everyone would agree with me in that Bevell hasn't had tremendous success implementing the TE into our passing game so will that suddenly change? I do not believe so.

 

[Jville]

IIRC Unger was knocked out of the lineup twice in 2014 because of teammates rolling up on or falling into his legs. That is a potential problem with or without Unger in 2015.

 

[Our Man in Chicago]

Hope he learns how to block. Miller was nails in that department.

 

[mikeak]

OK here we go

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/1 ... 96030.html

Rounded numbers
2015 -- $11 million
2016 - $9million
2017 - $8million

That is a lot of money

So savings - Zach Miller and Okung. Then we pick up a replacement for Okung in the draft

 

[theincrediblesok]

I don't care, I LOVE THIS!!!!! We needed a threat on a receiving end, and now we finally got one. Graham is a chess piece, he can moved inside outside, and play like a WR. Imagine Chris Matthews and Graham on the outside, Baldwin in the slot, Marshawn in the backfield. Graham knows how to play with a short QB and will give insight into how him and Brees does it. It's a win/win. Irvin will be fine with Graham looked at how Harvin and Sherman got along afterwards.

 

[KitsapGuy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/corryjoel/status/575388692086329346[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/FieldGulls/status/575388652022312960[/tweet]

 

[Digsbone]

Did not see this comming

 

[kidhawk]

Call him a receiver, sounds like only one year is guaranteed. OK .Maybe he can adjust.

His 2015 salary becomes guaranteed and he gets a roster bonus on the 3rd day of the 2015 league season which started today (so in 3 days). He's due to make $8 million this year, $9 million next year and $10 million the following year.

I would assume we'd let him play out this year, then try to restructure it next year so we can get a signing bonus in to help stretch the money out over some time. Our cap is in pretty good shape right now.

Of course I'd not be surprised to see it get re-done sooner.


Let's not forget Unger was due to count $4.5 million against our cap this year and had no dead money left on his contract, so we are netting about a $3.5 million deduction of cap space for this year.

 

[razgriz737]

Wow! Consider me shocked! I'm not even sure what to think of this right now. Graham is great, sure, but Unger has been the one consistent bright spot on our OL (when healthy). Still trying to gather my thoughts.

 

[original poster]

Blown away by this!

 

[Hawks46]

I hope we traded next years first and got a fourth this year....

Lets load up in the draft this year.

Hearing it's this year's 31st for the Saints 4th this year

Dang. Woulda preferred next year's first but it's all good. We should still have 11 picks.

The only way we could be better was the 32nd pick next year. Seriously it's about as low as you can get in the 1st. Plus most pundits had us trading back this year. With this draft, there wasn't great value for us at 31.