When Saints quarterback Drew Brees gave his first comments after agreeing to a new deal on Tuesday, he made it clear that he was hopeful that tight end Jimmy Graham would be returning to New Orleans for a second tour of duty.
Graham won’t be back with the Saints, though. Word of his three-year, $30 million deal with the Packers came a bit later on Tuesday and New Orleans will have to look elsewhere for help at tight end in 2018. Brees called that an “extremely good offer” Wednesday while reflecting on Graham’s decision.
“I would have loved to have had him back,” Brees said, via the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “We have a great relationship, both on and off the field. Obviously, there’s a lot of chemistry there that would have fit in very, very nicely to what we’re doing. You also understand it’s the nature of the beast sometimes that that stuff doesn’t end up coming together.”
Assuming he doesn’t sign somewhere else first, the Saints have a visit scheduled with Jordy Nelson and the former Packer could make Brees feel a bit better about missing out on the new Packer.