The Green Bay Packers will release tight end Jimmy Graham on Thursday, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday. Graham will become an immediate free agent.
Graham, who turned 33 in November, ranked as the highest-paid tight end in the NFL with an average salary of $10 million and was scheduled to take up the second-most salary-cap space ($11,666,668) in 2020 of any tight end in the league.
Only Philadelphia Eagles star Zach Ertz ($12.231 million) is scheduled to take up more cap space in 2020.
Graham’s second season with the Packers was barely different than his first. Although respected in the locker room, his on-field impact in 2019 was negligible: 38 catches for 447 yards and three touchdowns.
In his two seasons with the Packers, he scored just five touchdowns — half of what he scored in his final year with the Seattle Seahawks in 2017.
The Packers will save $8 million in salary-cap space without Graham.
Graham is the only tight end in NFL history to have two seasons with 1,200-plus receiving yards and 10-plus receiving touchdowns (2011 and 2013 with the New Orleans Saints) and is the only tight end to register four consecutive seasons with 85-plus catches (2011 to 2014, all with the Saints).
A source told ESPN’s Rob Demovsky last month that the Packers are expected to pursue tight end Austin Hooper during free agency to bolster the team’s offense.