Pro Football Focus will be providing analysis for every major NFL signing and trade during the 2015 free-agency period, accounting primarily for the quality of the player and his fit with his new team and focusing less on the financial terms of the deal.
Here are trade grades for the Saints and Seahawks in the deal involving Jimmy Graham.
Grade articles on every major deal
Seahawks get: TE Jimmy Graham, fourth-round pick
Saints get: C Max Unger, first-round pick
Seattle Seahawks: A-minus
The only thing holding this back from a slam dunk A-plus is the picks and price it took to acquire Graham. The Seahawks get a true offensive difference-maker that they've sorely missed with the recent departures of Percy Harvin, Golden Tate and Sidney Rice. One can't help but imagine Seattle general manager John Schneider sitting in his office before executing the trade and watching the Super Bowl-ending interception on repeat, thinking about how different the result might have been with a true red zone threat like Graham on the field.
Over the past two seasons, no tight end has more receptions (171), touchdowns (26) or yards (2,104) than Graham, and he's finished in the top two in yards per route run three out of the past four years. Graham had the highest receiving grade of any tight end in 2013 (plus-18.2), and he'll fit in nicely with an offense that had just one positively graded receiver last season (Doug Baldwin).
The only on-field reason for tempered enthusiasm is that the Seahawks have a propensity to run the ball, and Graham's strength is not as a blocker. Last season Graham lined up at wide receiver on 63.4 percent of his snaps, while Seattle lined up its tight ends in the slot or outside on just 20.3 percent of the snaps. Graham has struggled in the past as an inline blocker, but the Seahawks will likely be creative with Graham as they have been with their weapons in the past.
All in all, Graham has the chance to be a real difference-maker for the Seahawks -- and he'll have to be in order to justify the cost of a starting offensive lineman and a first-round pick.
New Orleans Saints: C-plus
Unger is one of the league's best centers and ended the season with a PFF grade of plus-12.4, good enough for fourth in the league despite missing 10 games and playing just 385 snaps over the regular season. The Seattle offense looked completely different when he was on the field, and his one poor game of the season came during the Super Bowl, which was a big reason Seattle fell short.
Unger has been in the top four of the PFF center rankings in two of the past three seasons, but the year he wasn't (2013) he was barely average, surrendering three sacks and struggling to hold together an offensive line that was dealing with inferior players at both guard spots. What the Saints do with their guards going forward could have a big impact on Unger's ability to hit his best form, as those were trouble spots for New Orleans this season.
The bottom line here is that the Saints added a very good center who is still just 28 years old, and they got a first-round pick thrown in, as well, which might end up being the best part of this deal for them. However, in doing so, they have sacrificed one of the truly transcendent offensive weapons in the NFL in Graham. If Unger's arrival solves the Saints' issues on the offensive line, it will likely have been worth it; if not, Graham was a very steep price to pay.