NFL New Orleans Saints

Jimmy Graham Injury All But Ends Frustrating Season For New Orleans Saints

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By @AnthonyIrwinNBA

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Getty Images

Note to the New Orleans Saints: Your cheapness ended your season before it even began.

Jimmy Graham is the rare commodity that brings something to the table no other person can provide. By refusing to pay him like a wide receiver, they basically told him “we know you’re insanely important to our team and we would not be nearly as effective without you, but you don’t mean that much to us.” Graham obviously didn’t like that message and hasn’t been his usual force-of-nature self at all this season.

Not only that, but Drew Brees stupidly went along with that message and supported his team’s frugality. Remember what Brees said about Graham during those negotiations? Here’s a little reminder: “Look at our numbers over the last eight years,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of different guys in there. Jimmy’s only been here four years. He’s only been here half the time. We were putting up some pretty big numbers before he got here, and we’ve been putting up some big numbers since he’s been here.”

In other words, “We’d be fine without him.”

Well, Mr. Brees, here’s your chance. Graham did not play in the second half as the Saints needed overtime to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home. To take it one step further, the Saints have essentially been without Graham all season. He has yet to consistently dominate games the way he did in past seasons.

If I’m Graham, I’d say to myself, “okay, so you want me to put my body on the line and produce at levels previously unseen at my position but you don’t want pay me accordingly?” The thought has to cross his mind, and he’d have a point.

Look, let’s say Microsoft employed an engineer who did something no other engineer can do. You think they’d fight with that employee over which position he should hold? Nope. They’d appease him to make sure he continues to produce at the level he’s capable of producing at. That’s what you do with elite talent. You keep them happy. You don’t fight over a couple million dollars when they earn you hundreds of millions of them.

Now, the Saints sit at 2-3 but have not impressed by any stretch this season amid rumors of turmoil between Brees and his most talented target. Fortunately, their division has been similarly mediocre and their playoff chances aren’t completely gone. But a gripe between the team’s two best players won’t help in digging them out of the hole they’ve spent the last few months digging.

Anthony F. Irwin is an NBA, NFL, MLB and NCAA Football contributor for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. Send him an email at .

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