Graham, TEs need touches.
Tight ends are underutilized in offense, and likely starter tries to remedy that
Nobody would ever confuse Garrett Graham for Rob Gronkowski.
He doesn’t have a party bus, and he is not on anybody’s future Hall of Famer short list like Gronkowski.
And despite spending his 2014 Texans season playing in essentially the same tight end-friendly offense that Gronkowski’s New England Patriots employ, Graham was targeted as a receiver 103 fewer times than Gronkowski.
Sitting out the season opener with a bad back and missing the final four games with a high ankle sprain, Graham caught only 18 balls, the fewest of any nominal NFL starting tight end. Two hundred players, including 45 tight ends, finished with more receptions.
Even accounting for the polar-opposite skill sets of the quarterbacks flinging those footballs — Tom Brady to Gronkowski versus, in order, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett, Tom Savage and Case Keenum to Graham — and the injuries that bookended his season, that seemed a poor use of a strong asset.
Too few opportunities
Even the previous year, when Matt Schaub careened off the rails and the Texans lost 14 games in a row, Graham was the intended receiver 83 times and pulled down 49 receptions, five for touchdowns. Then-rookie Ryan Griffin was targeted 28 times and caught 19 passes. Coach Gary Kubiak liked showcasing his tight ends, but not as much as Bill O’Brien was expected to do.
“In this offense,” Graham said, “you can’t help but involve the tight ends.” So what happened? Assessing blame for such a drop-off in productivity is complicated, and Graham chose not to — other than shoulder his share.
“I’ve got to do a better job getting open,” the sixthyear pro said. “We all do, and it’s something we’re really trying to improve on, because last season obviously wasn’t very productive for us. We’re spending a lot of time with the quarterbacks, before and after practice. The point of emphasis is definitely there. They’re coaching us up, helping us out a ton.”
The three true Texans tight ends — not counting
crossover defensive end J.J. Watt, whose three catches in goal-line situations produced three touchdowns — contributed less to their team’s passing totals than any group in the NFL.
Twenty-three tight ends totaled more receptions than the 32 Graham, Griffin (10) and rookie C.J. Fiedorowicz (four) had.
Change in strategy
Specific strategic adjustments to change things are off-limits for discussion, but it should be apparent to anyone watching these early practices that tight ends have been heavily written back into the offensive script. The loss of workhorse running back Arian Foster for likely half the season following surgery to repair a torn groin muscle makes it all the more imperative Graham, Griffin and Fiedorowicz move to the fore.
There are reasons to believe O’Brien would like Fiedorowicz to bump Graham from the starting lineup — in terms of body type, he’s a Gronkowski clone — but his clunky hands remain an issue.
Pronounced negative
An intriguing new presence is free-agent rookie Mike McFarland, a headturning physical specimen who looks taller than the listed 6-5. But catching the football consistently was an issue for him at South Florida, going a long way toward explaining why he didn’t get drafted, and drops have dogged him in training camp, too.
O’Brien is quick to remind “there are a lot of great physical specimens in the NFL” and McFarland has “a long way to go.”
At the same time, he calls McFarland “a great kid who wants to be a good football player. He’s working hard to get better. I think he’s got good hands.”
So does Graham. But good hands are useless if no footballs come his way.
Missed connections
The departed Fitzpatrick, whose relatively short stature hindered his vision, pretty much stopped looking for him after the third week of the season. (By then, Watt had established himself as the go-to tight end in goal-line situations.) Graham and Mallett appeared to find a little mojo together, hooking up for what became his lone touchdown catch of the season in Mallett’s first NFL start. It was good for a win at Cleveland, but then Mallett was lost for the year only a week later with a torn pectoral muscle.
Watt’s versatility is certain to continue to impact Graham’s statistics — especially touchdowns — but Graham bears no resentment toward his former Wisconsin Badgers teammate. Quite the contrary. He insists he’s grateful to Watt. Facing off against him during practices in college, he explains, enhanced his stature as a viable NFL prospect. He was drafted by the Texans in the fourth round in 2010.
“J.J. made me better,” Graham said.
Graham hopes to return to form and snare his share of the glory.
“If I stay loose, stay in the game mentally and not get frustrated,” he said, “good things will happen.”