In just five years with the New Orleans Saints, Jimmy Graham started in 50 contests, averaged 60.9 yards per game, caught over 50 touchdowns, made three Pro Bowl rosters, was a first-team All-Pro and seemed to cement his path toward becoming one of the greatest tight ends of all time.
In the six years that followed, Graham averaged just 39.4 yards per game, scored 31 touchdowns and has since fallen into relative obscurity in his current Chicago home. And much like Graham, the Saints' TE position has become far less glamorous, cycling through names like Coby Fleener, Ben Watson and Jared Cook (who, admittedly, was pretty good in his stint).
So one is naturally left to wonder what could've been had Jimmy Graham stayed with Drew Brees throughout the latter half of the 2010s. In fact, the veteran tight end asks that very question himself, reflecting on when the Saints traded him and a fourth-rounder to the Seahawks for Max Unger and a first-rounder.
"I don't think anybody really benefitted from the trade," Graham told ESPN's Mike Triplett. "You got a guy like Gronk who's been with his quarterback his entire career in the same offense, the same scheme. So for me it's always one of those things where thinking about what could've been or what should've been with Drew is kind of the most disappointing."
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Graham even went so far as to speculate about whether or not the Saints would have had more playoff success if he was still on the roster, and you can't exactly fault him for that thinking. The duo of Graham and Michael Thomas — a duo that was never able to share the field together, seeing as Thomas debuted after Graham had been traded — would have wreaked havoc all over the field for Brees' and Sean Payton's offensive attack.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that reuniting the aforementioned Rob Gronkowski with his longtime quarterback, Tom Brady, has worked wonders. We know what they were capable of in New England, and Tampa Bay has only gone to reinforce how strong their partnership is. In last year's Super Bowl, the pair hooked up for six receptions on seven targets, two of which resulted in touchdowns. And through two weeks of the 2021 season, the duo has looked just as unstoppable: 12 catches on 13 targets for 129 yards and a whopping four touchdowns. Brees may not have had the longevity that Brady has, but he was sure close, and we can only wonder what the Brees-Graham pairing may have been capable of in recent seasons.
What we don't have to wonder, however, is whether or not the Brady-Gronk show fueled Graham's motivation to produce as a top-tier tight end.
"I’ve never told anybody this," Graham told Triplett. "My first four years in the league, I actually had Gronk’s jersey hanging in my bedroom. I didn’t have a TV hanging in my room, I had Gronk’s jersey hanging in my room. Literally it was the only item I had hanging in my house. So every morning I had to wake up and I knew that I needed to get to work.
"I would say anybody and everybody needs some kind of a rivalry at some point, at least mentally to push yourself even more. And you know Gronk has always been that for me. And that’s kind of the sad part is I wish that I would’ve kind of been able to continue to work with that (Saints) system to see maybe what could’ve happened."
Brees is of the same state of mind, saying, "I'd be lying if I didn't say I wondered what we could've been able to do together if we had the opportunity."
Unfortunately, we'll never know. Brees is out of the league, and Graham has only seen 36 snaps and two targets through two Bears games in 2021, far behind up-and-comer Cole Kmet (98 snaps, 8 targets).
That doesn't mean his legacy hasn't made a lasting impact on the league and on the tight end position, though, and many of his statistics still stand among the elite in the record books — with the potential to grow. Here are some notable ones (via Pro Football Reference and Stathead):
— Second most TDs in a single season for a TE (16)
— Fourth most TDs in a career for a TE (82)
— Fifth and 10th most receiving yards in a single season for a TE (1,310; 1,215)
— Eighth most receiving yards in a career for a TE (8,350)
— 13th most receiving yards per game for a TE, min. 50 games (48.8)
— Sixth most receptions in a career for a TE (700)
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