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Jimmy Graham Fantasy Football Week 9 Projection

Jimmy Graham New Orleans Saints

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When the season first started, Jimmy Graham was everything you expected him to be. He was getting a high number of targets per game, and he was also hauling most of them in for some big gains down the field. But ever since he got hurt, you have probably been scrambling to get an Owen Daniels or a Niles Paul into your lineup with the hopes that this temporary replacement could put up half the numbers that Graham can.

Well now that he is back, he has yet to return to form and you are probably wondering if you should ride him out for another week. Here are a few facts to look at before coming to a final decision.

If you have watched Graham play the past two weeks, then you could see that he is protecting his hurt shoulder every time he was involved in a play. Whether he was attempting to catch a pass or simply running a route, he just didn’t look like himself and the results showed. He was shut out two weeks ago against the Detroit Lions, and things weren’t looking too good yet again this past Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

But he got going in the second half, and ended up with a pretty good as he hauled in five catches for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Even though the New Orleans Saints are on the road this Thursday night, a situation where they struggle mightily, Graham has been the one constant no matter where they play. In the three road games he has been healthy and played in, he has totaled 26 catches off of 33 targets, and averaged 95 yards with one touchdown per game.

And look at what his opponent the Carolina Panthers have given up to tight ends this year: Jermaine Gresham had six catches for 68 yards, Brandon Meyers had six catches for 41 yards, Heath Miller had four catches for 51 yards, and Owen Daniels had four catches for 43 yards. As you can see, these guys aren’t quite the who’s who when you’re talking about elite tight ends in the league, but they all had fairly decent games against the Panthers’ defense.

They were able to hold Martellus Bennett to one catch for 17 yards ,but that’s because they gave up 272 yards to other receivers in that game. As a defense, they have only given up one touchdown to the tight end position, but I expect that to change this week.

While Graham is clearly still not healthy, he is slowly progressing and you can see that he is getting more and more comfortable playing with that hurt shoulder. Expect him to have a good, but not great performance as they play a pivotal division game this week.

Projection: Six catches for 89 yards and a touchdown

Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.

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