New Orleans Saints og Seattle Seahawks har ingået en handel som sender TE Jimmy Graham til Seattle. Retur for Saints center Max Unger.
Dertil kommer også at Saints sender et 4. runde valg med Graham til Seattle, mens Seahawks sender deres 1. runde valg til New Orleans. Dermed har New Orleans Saints det 13. og det 31. valg i dette års draft.
Ifølge Times-Picayune har handlen været undervejs de seneste dage. Trade snakken, blev for alvor intensiveret natten til tirsdag fortalte Seahawks GM John Schneider til avisen.
Flere holdkammerater var også chorkede over nyheden. Dette har bla. også ført til at CB Keenan Lewis nu offentligt er i tvivl om han kan forsvare over sig selv at være en del af New Orleans Saints.
New Orleans Saints modtog Seahawks pro bowl center 28-årige Max Unger, som i sidste sæson spillede 6 kampe for Seahawks. Unger blev valgt af Seattle Seahawks i anden runde af draften i 2009, og er i hans 6-årige karriere valgt til pro bowl 2 gange (i 2012 og 2013).
Unger vil dermed blive Saints tredje center på blot 3 sæsoner. Det lader dermed ikke til at Saints vil give Jonathan Goodwin en ny kontrakt (Goodwin er UFA) og heller ikke mener at Tim Lelito kan klare opgaven.
Hvordan er din holdning til Graham handlen?
Ja det er trist at miste Jimmy Graham, men…..
Jimmy havde 10 TD sidste sæson – Josh Hill/Ben Watson havde 7
Max Unger er 28 år mod Goodwins 36 år – som løft på C
Dog føler jeg at 4.runde draft til Seahawks var formeget – deres var kom 31. i 1.runde
– kun lidt mere end et 2.runde draft
CB Keenan Lewis unhappy, wants Saints to guarantee contract or let him go
Uneasy and unhappy with the way his veteran teammates are being shipped out of town, New Orleans Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis said he wants the Saints to guarantee the final three years of his contract or let him go.
Otherwise, Lewis told ESPN he plans to skip organized team activities and minicamp and vowed, “I will be a distraction if they can’t do that for me, period.”
Lewis, 28, has three years and $13 million remaining on the deal he signed with the Saints in 2013.
The New Orleans native insisted that he didn’t want to come across as selfish and that he isn’t asking for more money, even though he feels his deal is well below market value compared to the deals being signed by other top cornerbacks around the NFL right now.
But he said he wants more security.
“I’m not happy. The team’s being broken apart,” Lewis said, pointing to the trades of Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles over the past two years and the releases of Pierre Thomas and Curtis Lofton over the past week. “I want to be here. But if they can’t do that for me, (I’m not sure they feel the same).”
Lewis has been a key acquisition for the Saints, emerging as a No. 1 cornerback after signing a five-year, $26.3 million deal to come from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has six interceptions and 22 pass defensed over the past two years, but his biggest value has come in being matched up often against the opponent’s No. 1 receiver.
Lewis was arguably the most valuable player on a struggling defense last year — though the other defensive MVP was probably Lofton, whom the team ultimately deemed expendable because he was due $7.25 million in salary and bonuses this year.
….lidt trist hvis han ikke vil deltag på holdet
Det er nok mere et chok for mig. Jeg tænkte ikke at Saints ville Trade så stor en offensiv profil. Men som Loomis siger så tog man en offensiv profil til at gøre forsvaret bedre (via draften). Max Unger vil – hvis han er skadesfri – være stor opgrade af o-line. En stor prioritet i denne offseason.
Her til morgen er flest ok med traden
– den der får skylden er Loomis for ikke at holde bedre øje med “Salary Cap”
Jeg tror Saints har planer om at sælge de 2 1.runde draft pick for en plads højere op….
Deres øjne må være rettet på Michigans States CB Trae Waynes
Jeg tænker umiddelbart det har været en for storopgave for Loomis med Saints OG Pelicans. Jeg kunne godt forestille mig det haft en vis indvirken på hans aktiviteter omkring Saints salary cap.
Nu hvor handlen er en realitet håber jeg at Saints holder fast i deres pick og vælger to spillere i første runde. Eller trader tilbage for flere picks.