The New Orleans Saints are not ready to completely make a decision on the status of Jimmy Graham. The tight end if the most valuable player to the team outside of Drew Brees and they are well-aware that going up against the Detroit Lions is not going to be an easy task with or without him. After suffering a shoulder injury before the bye week, it looked like Graham could miss a significant amount of time, but New Orleans is starting to feel confident about his availability.
Graham was a welcomed sight at practice on Thursday as he participated in team drills on a limited basis. Head coach Sean Payton was quick to say the team was very optimistic that Graham will be able to play after suffering the original injury 11 days ago against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Whether he is fully healed or not, Graham might play no matter what. Last season the tight end played a limited amount of snaps while healing from a plantar fasciitis injury. He even caught two touchdown passes in that time. The Saints would prefer to not force Graham to play while hurt, but he is leading the team in receiving and is a crucial part to the offense.
Payton notes that the Saints are very confident in their other receiving options should Graham not be healthy enough to go. Benjamin Watson and Josh Hill are the backups to Graham and would likely split the number of snaps as the team would go tight end by committee. Brees has confidence in the two players.
"Jimmy's balls have to go somewhere," Brees said, via Nola.com. "Listen, it's Ben Watson, it's Josh Hill, it's the tight ends as a whole. Those guys are certainly capable and will do a great job. I've got so much confidence in them....Through the course of a game you don't know how things are going to shake out. As we know, different guys come out of different games with ten-plus catches, a couple touchdowns, over 100 yards, whatever. Everybody knows they are going to have their opportunities and we'll just see how it shakes out. If Jimmy is not able to go, we'll miss him, but I'm really confident that those other guys will do a great job."
Outside of the tight end, rookie Brandin Cooks will need to continue his hot streak on the field as he slowly emerges as a breakout star for New Orleans. Marques Colston and Kenny Stills will also be heavily involved in the Week 7 game.