Week 8 provided what was probably the game of the year in Seattle vs. Houston. In addition to the consistent lead changes, tons of scoring, and Russell Wilson’s remarkably quick game-winning drive, it also featured some compelling play styles. As they had done for much of the season — they are top-five with a 39.8 percent blitz rate — Houston relied heavily on the blitz, but Wilson did not lean on Doug Baldwin to counter those situations like he normally does. Instead, it was Jimmy Graham who paced the Seahawks with three blitz targets and two blitz touchdowns. For the season, Graham now had three blitz touchdowns, which is tied with Rob Gronkowski, DeAndre Hopkins, Stefon Diggs, Marcedes Lewis, and Andre Holmes for the most in football.
In the preseason, I identified Graham as one of the big five security blanket tight ends, but his early-season struggles kept him out of this column. This game really shined a light on how dangerous Graham can be against blitzes, in particular in the end zone. He has never reached Gronkowski and Vernon Davis heights, but Graham owns two of the 13 tight end seasons this decade with at least five blitz touchdowns.
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Most Blitz TDs in a Season, TE, 2010-present |
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| Season | Player | Blitz | Non-Blitz | Total |
| 2015 | Rob Gronkowski | 9 | 5 | 14 |
| 2013 | Vernon Davis | 9 | 6 | 15 |
| 2013 | Joseph Fauria | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2012 | Rob Gronkowski | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 2011 | Vernon Davis | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| 2015 | Gary Barnidge | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 2016 | Martellus Bennett | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 2014 | Antonio Gates | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| 2014 | Jimmy Graham | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 2014 | Coby Fleener | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 2013 | Jimmy Graham | 5 | 11 | 16 |
| 2012 | Kyle Rudolph | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| 2011 | Rob Gronkowski | 5 | 15 | 20 |
Graham’s first half this season has him on pace to join Gronkowski as the leaderboard’s only three-time members. That may not continue this week against a middle-of-the-pack blitzing team in the Redskins (30.2 percent), but he is worth a look in daily formats against some of the heavier-blitzing teams of future weeks, like the Cardinals in Week 10 (33.9 percent blitz rate) and Rams in Week 15 (39.8 percent).
Graham is not the only player who sees his volume and productivity increase against blitzes. Research I did over the offseason shows that many players provide security blankets for their quarterbacks against blitz-heavy teams while others see fewer targets. Let’s look at the players who should gain and lose the most this week.
Players to target
Marvin Jones, WR, Detroit Lions
In previous seasons, Eric Ebron was a security blanket tight end similar to Graham. But this season, he has fallen out of favor in Detroit. Instead, Matthew Stafford has leaned on his wide receivers against blitzers. Marvin Jones, T.J. Jones, and Golden Tate all have blitz target percentages around 40.0 percent, and that’s made them all solid plays against the team’s blitz-heavy opponents.
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