Seahawks News: Jimmy Graham Opens Up About Being Traded To Seattle

New Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham was relatively shocked that the New Orleans Saints shipped him off last month, but the fact that he's a member of the defending NFC champions and not a team in rebuilding mode is cause for him to crack a big smile.

"Once Sean [Payton] said that I had been traded, I was going through the list of everyone who had a bunch of cap space, thinking either Jacksonville or Oakland or somewhere, but when he told me Seattle, it definitely put a grin on my face," Graham said to reporters on Thursday, via KING 5 News.

"I've had some battles clearly against their defense the last couple of years," he added. "We struggled against them as a team, as a whole. It's probably the one game that as a player you always look forward to because they're so good as a team and it's usually a prime time game. For me, it was moments of shock, but once that shock cleared, I realized I was going to the best team in football."

Graham had a relative down year by his lofty standards in 2014, amassing just 889 receiving yards. However, he cracked double-digit touchdowns (10) for the third time in his five-year career and looks poised to be Seahawks QB Russell Wilson's favorite red zone target in 2015.

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