Jimmy Graham says he wants to finish out his career with Bears
The Chicago Bears have plenty of questions to address this offseason, including the uncertain future of players including tight end Jimmy Graham.
Graham signed a two-year deal worth $16 million with the Bears last offseason. In his first season with the team, Graham was a breath of fresh air for a tight end group that was the collective worst the previous season. He had 50 receptions for 456 yards and eight touchdowns.
Graham appeared on the Hoge and Jahns podcast on Thursday, where he discussed an uncertain offseason. Ultimately, he reiterated his desire to finish out his career with the Bears.
“We obviously have a lot of things to figure out this offseason,” Graham said. “We’ll see what happens kinda once I talk to everybody and once they figure out what they want to do. But I’m going to be ready.”
With a decreasing salary cap that’s expected to be around $185 million in 2021, Bears general manager Ryan Pace has some decisions to make to free up cap space and fill some roster spots. Among the expected cap casualties is Graham. If Chicago was to cut Graham, they’d free up $7 million in cap space.
While Graham was a dependable threat in the red zone this season, the Bears ultimately drafted Cole Kmet, who will be entering his second season, to be the tight end of the future. Which would make it easier to part ways with Graham.
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