National Football League

Twitter bio may hurt Graham's grievance

Published Jun. 18, 2014 10:29 a.m. ET

foxsports

Ask Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints what position he plays in the National Football League and he’ll tell you he’s a wide receiver.

Ask the Saints what position he plays and they’ll tell you he’s a tight end. And, of course, the difference in their answers comes down to a money issue. The Saints put a franchise tag on Graham as a tight end, which translates to a salary worth $7 million.

Graham filed a grievance that he should be franchised as a wide receiver, which translates to a salary worth $12.7 million.

Now the sides are in arbitration, and Graham’s side says that because he lined up in the wide receiver position 67 percent of the time, he’s a wide receiver.

The Saints’ argument? Graham calls himself a tight end in his Twitter bio and on his personal website.

Among @NFL’s arguments: Jimmy Graham meets in the TE room, lines up where TEs line up… and lists himself as a TE on Twitter (really).
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 17, 2014

Graham has a fair argument. He does play the wide receiver position more than tight end. But when you call yourself a tight end and ask for wide receiver money, you’re not going to win many friends with the front office.

So now Graham must somehow prove that he was having an identity crisis when he put those designations on his personal accounts or risk losing out on over $5 million.

Meanwhile, fantasy football owners probably hope that Graham becomes eligible as a wide receiver so they can play him in multiple positions on their fantasy teams.

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