Why the Seahawks traded Jeremy Lane instead of Jimmy Graham

The rumor mill said the Seahawks were going to trade Jimmy Graham. So why did the trade turn into a new address for Jeremy Lane?

It was noted in several outlets, most notably our own, that Jimmy Graham could have been leaving Seattle. As co-expert Lee Vowell wrote, the likeliest scenario was a move for the Texans Duane Brown. Luckily, that trade didn’t go down. Instead, the Seahawks moved the somewhat disgruntled cornerback Jeremy Lane for Duane Brown. The newest Seahawk should go far in solving the now seasons-long offensive line shortcomings of Seattle.

Case in point: in their most recent game, the Seahawks running backs managed five yards rushing. Yes, five yards. Tyler Lockett lost another two. Russell Wilson tacked on 30, because nobody else could run the ball, and he’s freaking Superman. So fixing the offensive line would be nice, yeah.

But what would the trade of Graham have cost the Seahawks in the passing game? Graham has been off-target far too often this season. As my co-conspirator Lee Vowell wrote earlier regarding the potential trade, Graham was tied for the second-most drops in the league going into Sunday’s game. He is also still at his lowest per catch average of his career.

He didn’t improve on the average yards per catch number Sunday, but he did double his touchdown production, including the game winner with 21 seconds to go. Suddenly, Jimmy Graham is the toast of Seattle. Well, after Russell Wilson. That’s why Graham is still a Seahawk. And that 59 yard bomb to William Fuller no doubt contributed to Lane’s departure. That and his ill-considered Twitter rant.