While the New Orleans Saints toil away in organized team activities this week, the organization's star tight end is about to find out if he's actually a wide receiver.
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Jimmy Graham's long-awaited system arbitration will commence Tuesday, launching a two-day process that will help decide whether the talented fifth-year pass-catcher should be franchise tagged as a tight end at approximately $7 million or as a wideout at roughly $12 million.
Rapoport was told by two sources close to the process that a settlement is unlikely.
Graham, though, will have his day in court, with the NFL Players Association set to argue that the Pro Bowl player should be paid like a receiver because he's used like one after lining up wide on 67 percent of his snaps last season.
Rapoport reported the second day of the hearing resumes Wednesday in Metairie, Louisiana. The verdict is expected within five to seven days. If Graham loses, a long-term deal likely will be based on the $7 million number for a tight end tag, Rapoport reported. If Graham wins, he could sign the $12 million tag, and then the Saints would have to scramble to get under the salary cap -- or he could still work out a contract extension.
The NFL, per Rapoport, will attest that the Saints playmaker meets in the tight end room, regularly lines up on the field where tight ends line up and even lists himself as a tight end on Twitter.
"I'd hate to not have Jimmy,"Drew Brees told USA Today last week. "I'm very confident that a deal will get done. But if it doesn't, you worry about what you do have and who you do have out there."
Brees feels the way most Saints fans do: It doesn't matter what Graham's paid, as long as he's back on the field for an offense that looms as one of the NFC's most powerful.
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