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

[Year of The Hawk]

I am sure Jimmy will come into the locker room a bit more humble than he was on that one game day. Second if he is so soft explain his production... I guess soft TE don't do much or do they. What is more important a guy who has proven production and very real threat for defenses or a player who did not do well against our defense for two games. I am sure practicing against our defense every day will do a bit to toughen him up I liked Unger but he did get hurt much and was getting older. Plus he had a decent sized contract. Would you consider him a core player? I feel he is replaceable. He was not a HOF guy so in this era I think we did pretty good. Does anyone feel TE is now a position of need? Our Unger replacement at center will only get better and has proven he can fill in sufficiently. He might even do better in the long run.
Finally I believe in JS and Pete. You have to let go of players BEFORE they become bad. Maybe even a season before so money and contracts are not an issue. Lets no be scared of the future. Name a year this team has not churned the roster... I think we will be fine.

 

[theincrediblesok]

Julius Thomas - Didn't want to play when 90 percent healthy, pretty much quit on his team
Jimmy Graham - Suffered an injury on his shoulders in week 5, played the rest of the season with it

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Most likely, Ryan, yes. The OL will always be a first-contract turnstile on this team. But Unger, in my view, was the best part of that group of castoffs. Gimpy or not, nobody currently in Seattle's roster can replace Unger, and nobody in the draft is going to do so right away.

Look, I see the idea behind this trade...Seattle needed a big weapon, and Unger + 1st is just what you pay for a guy like Graham. There lingers the sense that Seattle has been winning NFC championships despite their passing offense, and there is the sense that the Seahawks were always going to have to cough up this kind of collateral for the weapon they needed. Plus, Unger is fragile. I get that.

But for me, this feels like robbing our rushing offense for the sake of our passing offense. We didn't lose the Super Bowl because we lacked a weapon like Graham, we lost the Super Bowl because Bevell did exactly what I described in my previous sentence. Which side of the offense has been more crucial to this team's identity? Give up Avril, McDaniel, Kearse, Willson, someone who's not irreplaceable. Not a scheme cog like Unger. That's how I'd have done it.

Then again, this IS touchdown machine Jimmy Graham we're talking about. And I was the guy who called Pete Carroll a chest-thumping baboon when he traded away Josh Wilson...

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Montana—Look at it this way, pass pro had been awful. How much of that was on Unger and Carp? (that's not a rhetorical question, I really want to see stats on how good we were in pass pro with those two on the field) My "eye test" tends to think that we've been bad on pass pro regardless of who has been on that line. What games have you watched where it felt like we completely dominated against a good pass-rush team since Unger and Carp have been here? I'm going to say it's close to 0 or 0.5 teams.

Maybe Pete realized we were running this offense through mud and that the scheme moreso than Unger and Carps raw talent were holding this patchwork group together. Does this trade address the fact that Seattle needs to get better upfront? NO. Does it help that cause? NO. Is there still months worth of time to get someone in Seattle who CAN fix/help it? YES.
:179422:

It's not that easy.

 

[Snakeeyes007]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/575399015283585024[/tweet]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :49ersmall: :lol: :lol: :lol: ...poor 9ers, poor poor 9ers.

 

[OkieHawk]

I'm conflicted on this to be honest. On one hand I like it due to Graham's ability, dude can ball. However, he may be a distraction on par with Harvin in the locker room. I really hope this works out and that the guys (Irvin) can work out their differences.

Unlike Harvin, Graham has no history of being trouble in the locker room.

Just because our defense called the dude soft.. doesn't mean a whole lot. Jeremy Lane said Gronk wasn't that good.. does that mean you wouldn't want Gronk on this team?

I get it, but have you seen Irvin's tweet? Not saying it will happen, but there has to be a reason NO let him go for fairly cheap and it isn't his on field production. I could very well be wrong, but something is weird is all I'm saying.

 

[hieroglyphics]

If you want to utilize Jimmy Graham correctly you have to allow him time to run a route and get open. The problem of having less than adequate time for Russell to throw is only going to be enhanced by Unger (and Carpenter) not being in the mix. While it's awesome to have a guy of Graham's receiving ability in this offense unless they now somehow address the offensive line in a major way I don't like this move at all.

I agree with all of this. I live in New Orleans and have watched a lot of Saints games. Jimmy has good top speed, but I wouldn't consider him quick off the line. He struggles with press and physicality at the LoS. He needs time to get open. (although, he does not need a large window - he's a beast at battling/catching the ball when covered tightly, and Breez can put it there. Can wilson?)

I'm intrigued and excited about what he brings - but his style of play minimizes play calling, IMO. With the saints, it got to be pretty predictable when they were going to run the ball: When Jimmy wasn't on the field, and when they were going to pass: when jimmy was.

Yeah but the difference is in New Orleans you run the ball with Khiry Robinson, Ingram, Thomas, Cadet, and whoever else is manning the rotation the past few years.

In Seattle, if Graham comes off the field, defense still has to focus on Lynch or Russell's legs.

 

[seahawksTopGear]

HATE it! Jimmy is soft. JS said a player has to be mentally tough to survive or locker room.

When will they learn and stop giving away first rounders for someone else's problems.

Quoting your words so I can dig them up next year.

Graham's salary this year is 3M. He has a roster bonus of 5M that the seahawks can convert into a signing bonus spread out over three years. That means that trading Unger for Graham is pretty much going to cost the 2M of dead money we have on Unger, unbelievable.

 

[theincrediblesok]

The more touchdowns we get the more we don't have to play from behind. How many close games have we played in where it's always been one play away from not winning. How many times in the first half where our offense seems inept.

How are people still questioning JS/PC after what they have done to get us back to back Superbowls. Look at the injuries during the year and how JS/PC was able to find and trade to get talents to hold up for us to win some games, without some of those guys they brought we might of lose some games.

Remember we were once 3-3 and most people on this board was ready to give up on the Hawks, everyone was panicking. So I will say this again in JS/PC I trust.

 

[kidhawk]

not that it's news, but the Seahawks have announced the trade, so it's officially unger and a 1st to the Saints and Graham with a 4th to the Seahawks

 

[pehawk]

Most likely, Ryan, yes. The OL will always be a first-contract turnstile on this team. But Unger, in my view, was the best part of that group of castoffs. Gimpy or not, nobody currently in Seattle's roster can replace Unger, and nobody in the draft is going to do so right away.

Look, I see the idea behind this trade...Seattle needed a big weapon, and Unger + 1st is just what you pay for a guy like Graham. There lingers the sense that Seattle has been winning NFC championships despite their passing offense, and there is the sense that the Seahawks were always going to have to cough up this kind of collateral for the weapon they needed. Plus, Unger is fragile. I get that.

But for me, this feels like robbing our rushing offense for the sake of our passing offense. We didn't lose the Super Bowl because we lacked a weapon like Graham, we lost the Super Bowl because Bevell did exactly what I described in my previous sentence. Which side of the offense has been more crucial to this team's identity? Give up Avril, McDaniel, Kearse, Willson, someone who's not irreplaceable. Not a scheme cog like Unger. That's how I'd have done it.

Then again, this IS touchdown machine Jimmy Graham we're talking about. And I was the guy who called Pete Carroll a chest-thumping baboon when he traded away Josh Wilson...

Nice post, thank you.

 

[chawx]

It's not that easy.

True. It hasn't been that easy to this point. But, I think we're comparing apples to oranges here. Adding a top-tier TE to this team opens up so much. Before it was, "stack the box and get pressure on Wilson/keep him in the pocket" now, it's not that simple. You put J. Graham on this team and the D is on it's heels now. They're playing reactive. This makes everyone better, blockers, RBs, TEs, WRs, QB...everyone on offense just got better with Graham being here if nothing else, decoy him and watch everything else open right up. Whoever steps into the starting center spot doesn't have to dominate...Russell can still scramble, and make the 1st, 2nd, 3rd guy through the line miss, but now he has an all-world guy to punish you with if you happen to send that extra rusher.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Every fan base would kill to get graham ... Yet some of you hate it without good explanation. Just silly.

 

[hieroglyphics]

Honestly I think our offense is going to be DYNAMIC next year.

We would have been a top 5 scoring offense last year if we could have moved the ball around the 40/30 yard line and red zone better. Maybe someone else can analyze the stats better, but I remember a massive issue for us was getting stopped around the 40 yard line after a great drive that started from say the 10 or 15 yard line. We were tied for 4th in the league in field goal attempts. It was entirely a symptom of having no 3rd down plays to utilize, no big targets in short yardage situations.

I mean this move, all else being equal, and knock on wood no injuries, could push us into a top 5 scoring offense, our defense provides us with such great field position, a guy like Graham with Wilson's legs and Beast Mode, just makes us so dangerous. We're going to be great I think on offense next season.

Unger was good but common we went 8-2 without him last year. This team will manage without Unger, he is a great player but not critical to our success. Graham immediately makes us scarier on offense and more difficult to prepare for every game.

Love the move.

 

[titan3131]

russell's smile is gonna be HUGE TODAY.

 

[SeatownJay]

Every fan base would kill to get graham ... Yet some of you hate it without good explanation. Just silly.

I don't hate that we got Graham. I hate that our offensive line, the weakest position group on the team, is that much worse now.

 

[Seahawkwalt1967]

Look out for Stefen Wisniewski, he's been undervalued so far this FA period and would be a solid option at Center for us!

Absolutely my first thought. You don't give u a starting center without a contingency.

 

[hieroglyphics]

Most likely, Ryan, yes. The OL will always be a first-contract turnstile on this team. But Unger, in my view, was the best part of that group of castoffs. Gimpy or not, nobody currently in Seattle's roster can replace Unger, and nobody in the draft is going to do so right away.

Look, I see the idea behind this trade...Seattle needed a big weapon, and Unger + 1st is just what you pay for a guy like Graham. There lingers the sense that Seattle has been winning NFC championships despite their passing offense, and there is the sense that the Seahawks were always going to have to cough up this kind of collateral for the weapon they needed. Plus, Unger is fragile. I get that.

But for me, this feels like robbing our rushing offense for the sake of our passing offense. We didn't lose the Super Bowl because we lacked a weapon like Graham, we lost the Super Bowl because Bevell did exactly what I described in my previous sentence. Which side of the offense has been more crucial to this team's identity? Give up Avril, McDaniel, Kearse, Willson, someone who's not irreplaceable. Not a scheme cog like Unger. That's how I'd have done it.

Then again, this IS touchdown machine Jimmy Graham we're talking about. And I was the guy who called Pete Carroll a chest-thumping baboon when he traded away Josh Wilson...

We may have lost the Super Bowl because of Bevell, but we were very fortunate throughout the season that our offense was able to do just enough to win games. We need to become more balanced as a team, and improving our offense does that.

I'd be very surprised if our defense can put together another year where they're
A) Healthy most of the season
B) Historically one of the best defenses of all time

I think our defense is bound to come down to earth a bit, I mean coming down to earth for our defense is going to still be top 5, but to carry our team for a 3rd year is just going to be tough to imagine. Becoming a more balanced team on both sides of the ball is what the rest of the NFL aspires to be.

 

[marko358]

Every fan base would kill to get graham ... Yet some of you hate it without good explanation. Just silly.

I don't hate that we got Graham. I hate that our offensive line, the weakest position group on the team, is that much worse now.

Luckily it's only March 10 and our first game isn't for several months. Lots of options for JS until then.

 

[HawkFan72]

Announced by the Seahawks with a cool graphic.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/575425444645900288[/tweet]