An awful season turned even more nightmarish for Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham Sunday, as he suffered a torn right patellar tendon in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The injury, which came in the second half of the Seahawks' 39-30 win, will end Graham's season.
Jimmy Graham injures knee, ending season; Seahawks, fantasy owners must move on
The star tight end suffered a torn patella tendon in Sunday’s game. We break down the fantasy implications.
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Graham had four catches for 75 yards Sunday before the injury, tied for his most yards in a game since Week 6. For the season, the 29-year-old has 48 catches on 73 targets for 605 yards and two scores, though he never found the end zone after Week 3. The team's No. 2 tight end, Luke Willson, had a single catch for 12 yards in Sunday's game.
Fantasy impact: Most fantasy owners of Graham had at least explored alternatives for the big-name tight end, as he has been a disappointment pretty much all season. Sunday's injury means the last holdouts have no choice but to move on, as the torn patellar tendon will end his 2015, and casts a big chunk of Graham's 2016 into question as well. The injury is similar to the one suffered by New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz last year, and he hasn't been back on the field since. Players rarely make it back to their old heights after such a knee injury, so it's going to be hard to count on much out of Graham ever again.
For this year, the “handcuff,” as it were, for Graham at tight end is Willson, who has only 152 yards and a single score on the season. Willson did have a couple of big moments a year ago -- 139 yards and two touchdowns in Week 16, 68 yards and a score in the Seahawks’ first playoff game -- but overall has done very little to inspire fantasy faith. Fantasy owners would do well to look elsewhere for help on the waiver wire.
