Saints to use Jimmy Graham’s Twitter bio against him in arbitration hearing
Jimmy Graham’s Twitter bio could come back to haunt him, if you can imagine that.
Graham and the Saints/NFL are in a dispute over how the All-Pro pass catcher should be labeled. The Saints placed the franchise tag on Graham and argue that he is a tight end. Graham says he should be considered a wide receiver since he lines up split 67 percent of the time according to ESPN Stats and Information.
The difference between what position Graham is considered is significant; the franchise tag for a tight end would cost around $7 million, and it’s over $12 million for wide receivers.
The Saints/NFL and Graham/NFLPA met for arbitration Tuesday over the issue. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport gave a preview of each side’s planned arguments.
Among @NFL’s arguments: Jimmy Graham meets in the TE room, lines up where TEs line up… and lists himself as a TE on Twitter (really).
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 17, 2014
Among @NFLPA’s arguments: 67 percent of the time, Jimmy Graham lines up where a WR would line up. Union has expressed a lot of confidence
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 17, 2014
So what’s wrong with Graham’s Twitter bio? He identifies himself as a tight end in it:
Since Graham is more of a hybrid tight end, I think the fair solution would be to give him the median between the two amounts. Wouldn’t that be an easy fix?
H/T Awful Announcing