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Arbitrator Stephen Burbank has ruled that Jimmy Graham is a tight end for franchise designation purposes.
Graham split off the line of scrimmage on 67 percent of his snaps last year, but he was drafted as a tight end, goes to tight end meetings and called himself a tight end in his Twitter bio. It led to the Saints winning the case, meaning they're scheduled to pay Graham $7.035 million on his one-year tender instead of the $12.312 million he would have gotten as a wide receiver. The two sides will continue to work on a long-term deal before the July 15 deadline, and now the Saints have a little extra leverage in negotiations.
Graham split off the line of scrimmage on 67 percent of his snaps last year, but he was drafted as a tight end, goes to tight end meetings and called himself a tight end in his Twitter bio. It led to the Saints winning the case, meaning they're scheduled to pay Graham $7.035 million on his one-year tender instead of the $12.312 million he would have gotten as a wide receiver. The two sides will continue to work on a long-term deal before the July 15 deadline, and now the Saints have a little extra leverage in negotiations.