I don't regularly hate on members of my own team. Brandon Inge? Fine by me. Lindsey Hunter? A defensive FORCE. Dennis Rodman? Two-time defensive player of the year. But the trend stops for one: Chris "Brick" Graham. Or maybe it's "The Brick," for his resemblence on Saturday afternoons to something brown that comes out of an ass.Coming out of Warren Central High School in Indiana, Graham was inexplicably given a four star rating by scouting website rivals.com. Even more baffling, Rivals rated him as the number one player out of Indiana AND the 15th best LB in the class of 2004. Clearly, Lloyd Carr wasn't the only one unable to gauge his abilities.
People I would rather play LB for my team than Chris Graham:
1. Jason Hanson
2. Shaky Jake (dead or alive)
3. The guy from Pizza House who offered to go down on his girl if she let him get a cheeseless pizza
4. Jean Birch
As a freshmen, "Brick" had his best season, totaling six tackles, but more importantly, saw zero snaps at linebacker. At this point, my Jerame Tuman jersey was safe. Then came 2005 (and 2006 and 2007), where the jersey was hidden back amongst the shoes from my junior year of high school and the C.J. Nitkowski autographed baseball. My favorite Chris Graham fact? In 46 games as a linebacker, Chris Graham totaled ONE sack. My second? After "climbing up all 32 teams draft boards" prior to the 2008 NFL Draft, Graham went undrafted but signed with New Orleans. He was cut less than three months later, and currently cannot crack the roster for the all-time worst and LB starved Detroit Lions. Probably time to hang 'em up kid.
I'll leave you with SI's assessment of him prior to the Draft:
I'll leave you with SI's assessment of him prior to the Draft:
"NEGATIVES: Inefficient and does not take proper angles. Late transitioning to run with tight ends in coverage."
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Zach
ha, yeah Zach should post more often. Damn, though not enough people read this blog though
ReplyDeleteThe "Pizza House" incident was actually at Mr. Pizza. Get it right. We do need to spread the word on this thing.
ReplyDeleteOh and also, it's Aaron Shea. Get your game tight.
ReplyDeleteNah man, it was at Backroom. And didn't Aaron Shea wear 36?
ReplyDeleteOk this is absurd. My worst nightmare has occurred. Zach has gotten the keys to this thing.
ReplyDeleteChris Graham was a solid LB at the University of Michigan. A good college LB, that is what I'll call him. Only you would be so naive to look at stats only. His responsibility was to take on the fullback and let Crable and Burgess get the tackles. This is just one example of his unselfish nature.
This guy was the hardest hitting LB in the Big Ten during his time (cue Zach's undoutbtedly busting of 18 nuts thinking about the Penn State LB's). He forced fumbles just about every game. Against the pass, I admit he struggled but that was due to size. Against the run, the RB's ran into more than a brick.
Despite his lack of ideal height and the personal tragedies he endured during his playing days, Graham was solid in his production. Surely one of the top 5 LB's in the past decade in Ann Arbor.
He won't be a LB in the NFL because of his size, but he will be a solid special teamer, in the mold of 25-time Pro Bowler Larry Izzo. He lays the wood and leaves ballcarriers looking like Sam McGuffie picking himself off the ground. And LB-starved Lions? Sims, Foote, and Peterson probably form the top LB corps in the NFC son.
Get your facts straight. This is strike one, a couple more and you'll get the password changed on you.
It was actually Jarret Irons now that I think about it. And it was most definitely Mr. Pizza.
ReplyDeleteAs for Chris Graham, I will not accept arguments.
No, he wont be a LB in the league Wei because he sucks. Not because of his size . . . see London Fletcher. Zach is right on this one. Chris Graham = overrated
ReplyDelete