Jimmy Graham is being taken as the twelfth tight end off the board in standard ESPN leagues right now.
Analysis: New Orleans’ tight end Jimmy Graham turned it on late last year with five touchdowns in his final eight games. Now, fast forward to this season with Jeremy Shockey in Carolina and you have a tight end with some serious upside. Considering Saint tight ends were targeted 151 times last year and Shockey accounted for fifty-nine of those targets, Graham will be one of the more heavily targeted tight ends in the leagues this year. Greg Olsen is the tenth tight end being taken off the board in ESPN drafts right now and when considering he’s coming off of a 404 yard season with four scores it’s just ridiculous. Olsen may also be in Carolina but with the lack of a relaiable quarterback you have to wonder if he’ll even have a remotely productive season. I’m not saying Graham is a top eight tight end who will reach pay dirt double digit times this year but the amount of targets that will be coming his way with all the weapons on that Saint offense- it sure seems to point to Graham being a legit low tier TE1 heading into the 2011 season.