Earlier in the week, arbitrator Stephen Burbank denied New Orleans Saints tight end (TE) Jimmy Graham the ability to be designated a wide receiver (WR) for a franchise tag. The difference in those two letters (TE vs WR) is over $5 million ($12.132 versus $7.053 million).
Going into the appeal, supporters of Graham thought he might have a case because he lined up in the slot or as a wideout over 2/3 of the time. However, the arbitrator appeared to have accepted the argument by the Saints that since Graham was most likely to be defended by a linebacker (like former University of Oregon and current Buffalo Bill Kiko Alonso – pictured communicating with Graham) or by a strong safety rather than a cornerback or additional defensive backs in a nickle or dime defense, he should be considered a tight end.
Before you start feeling like Graham is getting robbed of anything, we should note a few things. First, Graham and the Saints have until July 15 to work out a new, long term deal. Given that Rob Gronkowski signed a $9 million per year extension a couple of years ago, Graham will probably end up with a long term deal that pays more than $7 million a year. The result of this ruling simply lessened his bargaining power as he and the Saints continue discussions. Second, in the worst case scenario, Graham gets franchised the next two years and plays for around $7 million a year and then gets a chance to sign for more money as a free agent. So, this ruling is far from forcing Graham into the poorhouse.
Outside of sports, many of us have probably referred to ourselves with a certain title even if we did not have it. In our cases, the most it ever cost us was a little pride. Cleveland Browns tight end has changed his Twitter bio from “Prob Bowl TE” to “pro Bowl pass catcher” following Graham’s appeal, possibly hoping to be considered a wideout rather than a tight end. For Jimmy Graham, failing to convince an arbitrator that he is a WR rather than a TE might end up costing him $5 million. The most interesting part of this story to me is that the way that a team defends you could end up contributing to a definition of your position, thus impacting the amount of money you earn. If other teams want you to pay more for your tight end, they could start to defend him with a defensive back rather than a linebacker. I think the incentive to win is much greater than the incentive to force teams to pay more for their franchise tags, but it does present compelling decisions.