New Orleans Saints bring home Jimmy Graham, add Trai Turner on one-year deals

Jimmy Graham, one of the most productive and popular tight ends in New Orleans Saints history, is back with the club that developed the former college basketball power forward more than a decade ago — albeit under considerably different circumstances.

Veteran NFL guard Trai Turner is returning to the state where he starred for LSU, making New Orleans his fifth different NFL home in the past five years.

The Saints announced the one-year contracts for each player on Tuesday as veterans reported for the club’s training camp at team headquarters.

“We wanted to make sure that Jimmy still had the desire to play, which he does. He looked great, he’s in great shape. He wants to be here,” Saints coach Dennis Allen said, alluding to the fact that the 36-year-old Graham did not play last season.

Mentioning fellow Saints tight ends Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau, Allen added that New Orleans has “some young players that we feel good about and are looking to develop, and we felt like Jimmy was a perfect fit for that room.”

While Graham’s production tapered off in his most recent NFL season in 2021 with Chicago, he was an unusual success story early in his career, having played only one season of college football at Miami — where he was a four-year basketball player — before the Saints made him a third-round draft choice in 2010.

In just his second NFL season, with Drew Brees as his quarterback, the 6-foot-7 Graham caught 99 passes for 1,310 yards and 11 touchdowns and was selected to his first of five Pro Bowls. He had another banner season in 2013, with 1,215 yards and a career-high 16 TDs receiving.

His run in New Orleans ended when he was traded in 2015 to Seattle, where he twice more caught 10 TD passes in a season but never reached the 1,000-yard receiving plateau in his three seasons with the Seahawks.

“Maybe I’ll get the respect of my daughter back because she killed me when we traded him years ago,” Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said.

Graham also spent two seasons each at Green Bay and Chicago. In his final season with the Bears in 2021, Graham caught 14 passes for 167 yards and three TDs.

Now Graham’s quarterback will be former Raider Derek Carr, who is in his first season in New Orleans. Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. held the same title when Graham last played for the Saints, but former coach Sean Payton — now with Denver — designed and usually called the offense back then.

Bringing Graham back “came down to a need on our part and a desire on his part to play,” Loomis said. “We’ve got a role that fits him and fits us. … He also brings a presence and resume and, I guess, an attitude.”

The 6-3, 315-pound Turner, a former LSU standout and a starter throughout his career, was a Carolina Panthers’ third-round draft choice in 2014. He spent his first six NFL seasons with Carolina before hopping from the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020 to Pittsburgh in 2021 and to Washington last season.

“We played against him a lot. He’s a big physical offensive guard,” Allen said. “We’ve had some good battles against him in the past and feel like he’s a good fit.”

While Turner could potentially push either of the Saints’ incumbent starting guards for snaps, Allen stopped short of putting either Andrus Peat or 2020 first-round draft choice Cesar Ruiz — on notice. Both are in their final seasons under contract.

“This is not a help-related signing,” Allen said. “We felt like (Turner is) a veteran player we could bring in, put into the mix and let’s see how the competition plays out.”

NOTES: Allen said he has not heard anything from the NFL “at all” about potential discipline for star running back Alvin Kamara, who recently reached a plea agreement in a criminal case in Las Vegas stemming from a fight in a hotel. Although Kamara pleaded to a misdemeanor, he also agreed to pay $100,000 in restitution and reached an additional, undisclosed financial settlement with the victim, who was seriously injured. There also was hotel security video evidence in the case. Similar incidents have resulted in multi-game suspensions for other players. Loomis said he didn’t “have an expectation” of when the NFL might notify the club of any discipline. … Allen and Loomis said they both expect two-time All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas — who has played in just three games the past two seasons and just 10 regular-season games since 2020 — to be fit to practice fully in Wednesday’s opening camp practice. “I feel really good about where Mike’s at physically,” Loomis said.