NEWSLETTER
Back in 2018, the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers both pushed to sign tight end Jimmy Graham.
The Packers ultimately signed him to a three-year deal, while the Bears moved onto Trey Burton. Two years later, Green Bay cut Graham to create salary cap space. And less than a week after that, Graham will land in Chicago.
News from ESPN’s Adam Schefter:
Jimmy Graham to the Bears on a two-year, $16 million deal, including $9 million guaranteed, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2020
Admittedly, this is not a move I expected the Bears to make. Well, a TE, yes. Graham, specifically … not so much.
Graham is coming off a season in which he caught 38 passes, picked up 447 receiving yards, and scored three touchdowns (the reception and yardage numbers were Graham’s worst since his rookie season, while the three touchdowns represented the third time in five years he’s recored three or fewer scores). In short, Graham is trending in the wrong direction.
So … perhaps Bears GM Ryan Pace knows something we don’t about him and his potential for a bounce-back season? Maybe a change of scenery will do him some good?
Few people know Graham like Pace, who was in the Saints front office when Graham blossomed from an ex-basketball player into an all-star tight end, so there’s at least something to that. And, hey, it doesn’t hurt that he comes from the Bears’ biggest rivals. There’s at least some value in picking his brain on that front.
In addition, the terms of the deal don’t seem particularly cost prohibitive, which is nice, though we’ll have to wait a bit to be sure about his cap hit (more on that in a bit, but you can just mentally estimate around $8M for 2020). With that said, signing Graham won’t count against the compensatory draft pick formula – an important note on a signing like this – and we all know how much help the Bears needed in their TE room.
Which is … quite large:
The Bears now lead the NFL in tight ends under contract:
Jimmy Graham
Trey Burton
Adam Shaheen
Demetrius Harris
Ben Braunecker
Jesper Horsted
J.P. Holtz
Eric Saubert
Dax Raymond— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) March 16, 2020
We’ll dive into his deal more when the time comes. But for now, it’s a start.
