Jimmy Graham not happy with lack of targets for good reason

You can’t call the Seattle Seahawks shy. Fresh off a Super Bowl defeat, they went about retooling their roster, specifically their offense. The big addition? Well, it was Jimmy Graham, of course, who was brought in to add playmaking and a huge red zone threat for Russell Wilson.

Two weeks in and 62 yards later, things haven’t gone exactly as planned, especially when you consider that the team not only gave up a prominent draft pick, but also had to hand-deliver their best offensive lineman, Max Unger, to the Saints. Now, if reports (courtesy of Mike Freeman) are to be believed, Graham is not happy with how things are panning out.

From his perspective, it’s easy to see why. He’s on the field plenty, missing just 11.9 percent of the Seahawks' offensive snaps. Indeed, this represents an increase over his usage in New Orleans, where in 2014 he missed 31.8 percent of snaps. But the big difference is how often he is targeted, as the table shows.

That’s almost twice as many routes needed to run at the moment to pick up the same number of targets, and in an offense that isn’t going to throw the ball as much as one led by Drew Brees. It’s an alarming drop, and one that will either be rectified in weeks to come, or lead to a bigger issue. You simply don’t give up as much as the Seahawks did for Graham to utilize the tight end that little.

On his best days, Graham is a difference-maker. As the Seahawks are using him right now, however, he’s just another guy.