Bears need Jimmy Graham to prove the haters wrong

The Chicago Bears took a ton of flak for signing Jimmy Graham. Now, he needs him to shut them up.

Jimmy Graham became yet another statistic of failed free agency signings for the Green Bay Packers. He underperformed in his two seasons with the Packers, and was met with little resistance after departing from the team facility for good.

The Chicago Bears, shockingly, ran over to Graham’s camp to secure his services. They locked him in on a two-year deal while also giving him a no-trade clause to sweeten the deal for him. Why they did that is anyone’s guess, but it opened up the floodgates for criticism. So now, the Bears need Graham to close those gates to silence the haters for good.

Graham has a ton going against him in the Windy City this year

Graham is no longer the same player that he was with the New Orleans Saints. He did have one two great seasons with the Seattle Seahawks in 2016 and ’17, but other than that, it’s been rather average for Graham.

In his past two seasons with the Packers, Graham caught 93-of-149 targets for 1,083 yards and five touchdowns.

Even though Graham got that cushy deal from Bears general manager Ryan Pace, he’s one of nine tight ends on the team’s roster. Additionally, Pace used his very first pick in this year’s NFL Draft to draft Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet, the consensus best tight end of the class.

Additionally, Graham will have a downgrade at the quarterback position. Mitchell Trubisky is coming off a disappointing 2019 campaign, and enters this upcoming season on the hot seat. If Trubisky fails to put anything together, then Nick Foles will emerge from the bench. While Foles has proven to be a clutch performer come playoff time, his lone year with the Jacksonville Jaguars left a lot to be desired.

So, Graham will likely have to build a chemistry with two NFL signal-callers this season. That’s a far cry from what he had in Green Bay.

Graham can be a help in one area

The best way Chicago can get the best out of Graham is to use him in the red zone. This past season, all five of Graham’s touchdowns came inside the 20-yard line, per Pro Football Reference. Head coach Matt Nagy is lauded as an offensive genius, so we’d expect him to utilize the tight end heavily in scoring territory. It’s common sense!

Long story short, Graham has a very short leash this year. While Graham will definitely be the team’s starting tight end for the season opener, he’ll have Kmet breathing down his neck if he fails to produce on the field.

Pace needs the jokes directed towards him to stop, and that will only happen if Graham has a career resurgence in 2020.