Jimmy Graham isn't perceived as a good blocker. Whether perception is reality -- or whether recent injuries have sapped his ability to block -- we will find out now that he's in the Seattle Seahawks' run-first offense.
"(In New Orleans) the last two years, I was pretty banged up, so midway through the year I kind of stopped blocking and I just routed people up," Graham said Monday, per the Seattle Times. "Now here I'm blocking quite a bit, and I love it. It's very important to me to be a part of that here. That's about 75 percent of the offense here. When you have a back like that, you want to be in there on those explosive runs, and you want to be a part of that."
On the other 25 percent of plays, Graham will do what he does best: Catch the ball.
"Third-and-10 is when I'm going to make my money and that's when I'm going to have to be special for this team," he said. "Down there in the red zone. That's just what I've always done. I'm doing the most down there. There's a lot of matchup problems and with Marshawn (Lynch) in the backfield and their safeties play too flat and I just see a ton of opportunities there."
The Seahawks brought in Graham to bolster a huge red-zone weakness. The 6-foot-7 target should make Russell Wilson's life easier near the end zone and in third-and-long. In all other situations Graham is prepared to block for Beast Mode.
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