National Football League

Jimmy Graham "barely practiced" all season with Seahawks

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:45 p.m. ET

Fansided, Keith Myers/FanSided via 12th Man Rising

Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham said that he barely practiced all year. That lack of preparation clearly hurt his 2016 production.

We finally have an answer as to why Jimmy Graham would go long stretches in games where it seemed like he wasn’t involved. According to a report by Dave Richard of CBS Sports, Graham barely practiced all season.

“I was told the statistics are 70 pct that I would never play again.” — @TheJimmyGraham on his (ongoing) comeback. https://t.co/2IN4qjNR4O

— Dave Richard (@daverichard) January 30, 2017

In that report, Graham discusses that his initial recovery wasn’t about pain or range of motion.

“Learning how to walk again was a process for me. It was some of the darker days of my life, but I’ve had many moments of my life where I’ve had to just kind of put my head down and work, and this was no different.”

It was six months before he was able to begin jogging. He was barely in shape in time for Week 1. Managing the week-to-week recovery was a major issue for Graham and the Seahawks all season. That caused him to sit out almost every day of practice.

It should be no wonder that Graham and quarterback Russell Wilson weren’t on the same page at times. The duo never seemed to develop the chemistry that Wilson had with receivers like Doug Baldwin.

Graham doesn’t seem to be worried that this issue is going to extend into next season. He and Wilson are already working out together, and Graham will be healthy enough to practice regularly in 2017.

“Going through this offseason, being with Russ out there in California, you know I’m going to fly out there and train with him and really get that chemistry down because I wasn’t able to do that with him last year. It’s only going to get better.”

Seahawks fans should feel good about Graham’s potential for 2017. Graham finished with 65 catches for 923 yards and 6 touchdowns last season. If that his his production level without chemistry and practice time, he will be in for a monster year now that he’s healthy.