Ever since the Saints pulled off a wild trade early in March, sending all-pro tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seattle Seahawks, Saints QB Drew Brees has not been very happy.
Head Coach Sean Payton spoke to NBC Sports on Monday at the annual league meeting and vocalized his thoughts on the trade for the first time.
“I think it’s tough. Especially — and Drew’s been, shoot for nine years now, he’s played with a lot of different receivers, a lot of different tight ends, and what’s lost a little bit is there’s an energy that’s required when you’re the quarterback and you’re watching film with these players and working on certain routes. And so it’s difficult. And yet, from a bigger picture standpoint, you’re wanting to play better defense and reduce the amount of points you may need to score to win a game. So losing players like that … those are always difficult. But they impact a quarterback, especially when it’s a tight end like Jimmy Graham. And now it’s our job as coaches to find additional targets. And we feel like we got one in (pass-catching running back) C.J. Spiller, who’s a completely different position but nonetheless a playmaker when the ball’s in his hands.”
Source: NFL