Much has been made over the role of Jimmy Graham in the Seattle Seahawks offense. The tight end was a marquee trade of the offense as Seattle gave up their starting center and a first-round draft pick to get the offensive threat. However, Graham has been about the opposite of a threat in Seattle leaving everyone frustrated. While head coach Pete Carroll admits that they have to get things worked out, Russell Wilson is remaining confident in his teammate.
With Graham earning $27 million over the next three years, fans were expecting the tight end's production to be a little different than it is. The star is simply not getting the looks from Wilson that he was with Drew Brees while the Seahawks continue to line him up differently than the Saints did. However, Wilson's not discouraged and is confident Graham will step up soon.
"Who knows?" Wilson said, via ProFootballTalk.com. "I think that the sky's the limit and you want to keep trying to find him. I think there's some more room to obviously improve. There's some more things that we can hopefully score more touchdowns, get more catches, all those things. Thing about Jimmy is he's a winner, and he's a guy that loves to win and he's a guy that's dedicated to the game and dedicated to the team, so he fits in just right. We need to find ways to get him more involved, but not force it. He's a special player, he's one of a kind. So we've got to find that."
The Seahawks are 2-3 on the season and need some kind of spark to get momentum moving. Getting Graham the ball would certainly be a nice way to start things off as they prepare to face the Carolina Panthers, a team well aware of what the tight end can do on the field. Right now, Wilson is targeting receivers like Jermaine Kearse and Tyler Lockett more, but it is Graham that can be the more versatile threat.
The Seahawks will get Marshawn Lynch back at full strength in Week 6. Carroll told the media that he expected Lynch to have his normal work load on Sunday despite missing time with a hamstring injury. While Thomas Rawls was a nice substitute for the running back, having Lynch back will certainly help.
"He should be ready to go," Carroll said, via ESPN.com. That is what we anticipate. But we've got to make it through the week."
