How Long Can Jimmy Graham Defy Age?

The veteran Bears tight end has several factors working against him this season, including the growth of his teammate Cole Kmet and the uncertainty at quarterback.

The Bears continue talking about Jimmy Graham like he's part of the plans for 2021 even if their cap situation cries out for some relief, and Graham's departure could provide it.

Still, cutting Graham would leave them very thin again at a position where they went through that problem in 2019 and they wouldn't want to experience it again.

"The guy led our team in touchdowns," Bears tight ends coach Clancy Barone said. "He's, I think, No. 4 on the all-time NFL list for tight ends touchdowns and so forth for their careers. He's invaluable. 

"He's a guy that takes phenomenal care of his body and every year of his career, he'll take off two weeks when the season is over and then he's right back into running and lifting and things like that. So he's not the kind of guy that has to get in shape. He's the guy that always stays in shape. And he’ll show up here I'm sure weighing about 265, 270 pounds with about 8% body fat, much like his coach, and he’ll do well for us."

Barone could only be so lucky. 

The Bears know the 50 receptions and eight touchdown catches for Graham probably would be a stretch again for a tight end who turns 35 during the season. However, Jason Witten returned from a year of retirement in 2019 for Dallas and at age 37 caught 63 passes. So stranger things have happened.

Graham's yards per catch are declining, which should be expected. It happened for Witten this way, as well.

The Bears like other aspects of Graham's game besides his production, and chief among them is the way he mentored rookie Cole Kmet while giving a charge to the whole offense.

"The thing also with Jimmy, he's a great culture guy for the locker room and he gets it," Barone said. "He's a guy a lot of people lean on and so forth and listen to and so trying to build that great culture in the locker room, Jimmy is a guy that I think is part of that foundation."

Projecting a stat total for their U-tight end this year is a bit difficult because more could go into it than just Graham's capabilities. The Bears expect Kmet to take a step up in production in his second year, after 28 catches as a rookie. This could take away some of Graham's catches, unless they line up in more two-tight end formations much like they did toward the end of last season. There's a distinct possibility of this."

"I would think so, if that's at all possible," Barone said. "The big thing is, as we know, Cole's reps got more and more and more in volume as the season progressed so I think it's going to be natural that he'd be out there with Jimmy more and more as the season went on. 

"But you have two guys that are 6-6 and 6-7 that can be a nice big-bodied target and those make matchup advantages for the Bears. When you have one out there, you have one big guy that can be a big target advantage and when you have two out there, it doubles your chances obviously. So, yeah, we like to do that more often if possible but everything depends on the game plan part of it."

Other factors could hold down Graham's totals, as well. The main one would be the uncertain quarterback situation. Sure, Andy Dalton is slated as starter but Justin Fields is waiting for his chance. 

The changeover could cause disruption in production totals for receivers. As long as it doesn't disrupt win totals, no one will complain.

Jimmy Graham at a Glance

Career: 12th season, 1,085 targets, 699 receptions, 8,339 yards, 82 TDs.

2020: 16 games, 76 targets, 50 receptions, 456 yards, 8 TDs.

Key Number:  636. The number of plays Graham had on offense last year. At age 33 and 34 during the season he still was on the field for 59% of the offensive snaps and has had two seasons lower in the past.

2021 Projection:  58 targets, 38 receptions, 344 yards, 4 TDs.

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