Seattle Seahawks

Mathieu: Creative differences lead to decline for Seahawks' Graham

Published Nov. 17, 2015 3:51 p.m. ET

foxsports

Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham might want to consider hiring Tyrann Mathieu as his agent.

One day after Graham turned in a quiet performance in Seattle's 39-32 loss to Arizona, Cardinals safely Mathieu offered a reason for the lack of production for the perennial Pro Bowl selection.

“I don’t think they use him quite as creatively as the (New Orleans) Saints used him,” Mathieu said Monday night during a radio appearance on Pro Football Talk Live. “I played against Jimmy in 2013 when he was with the Saints and I mean he was all over the field."

Mathieu voiced what many pundits wondered after Graham was acquired from New Orleans, where he caught 51 touchdown passes in five seasons and had at least 85 receptions in each of his final four years. Graham has a team-high 41 catches for the Seahawks but hasn't scored since Week 3.

"The biggest thing with (the Saints) was he created mismatches for him, and (Sunday) he wasn’t really in a position where we felt like it was a mismatch," Mathieu said. "We felt like we had great cover guys on him all the time and those two weeks we had to prepare for them it really helped us a whole lot.”