The Seahawks Thursday found a replacement for tight end Jimmy Graham, reaching agreement on a three-year deal with Ed Dickson, who played last year with the Carolina Panthers and is coming off his best season. According to the NFL Network, Dickson will receive $14 million, with the first year fully guaranteed.
Dickson, 30, became Carolina’s primary tight end last year after Pro Bowler Greg Olson went down with a foot injury. Dickson caught 30 passes for 437 yards and one touchdown. He had his best game against Detroit — five receptioms for 175 yards. Prior to 2017, the 6-foot-4, 244-pounder had gone five consecutive seasons with 25 or fewer catches.
His best year came in 2011 with the Baltimore Ravens when Dickson caught 54 passes for 528 yards and five touchdowns. In eight seasons, Dickson has 178 catches for 1,985 yards and 12 TDs. Graham, an unrestricted free agent who bolted to Green Bay earlier this week, caught 10 TDs in 2017.
Although he is not much of a pass catcher, Pro Football Focus graded Dickson as its top pass-protecting tight end in 2017. He will also be an upgrade over Graham in the running game.
Dickson attended the University of Oregon and was a third-round pick (70th overall) by the Ravens in 2010.
SEAHAWKS FREE AGENT TRACKER
Free agents signed
| Date | Player | Pos. | ’17 AAV | New Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 14 | Barkevious Mingo | DE | $3.4M | 2 years, $6.8M |
| Mar 16 | Ed Dickson | TE | $1.95M | 3 years, $14M |
Free agents retained
| Date | Player | Pos. | ’17 AAV | New Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 14 | B. McDougald | S | $1.8M | 3 years, $13.95M |
| Mar 14 | Dion Jordan | DE | $366K | 1 year, $1.9M |
| Mar 14 | Justin Coleman | CB | $615K | 1 year, $2.9M |
Free agents lost
| Date | Player | Pos. | ’17 AAV | New Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 14 | Jimmy Graham | TE | $10M | 3 years, $30M |
| Mar 14 | Paul Richardson | WR | $1.4M | 5 years, $40M |
| Mar 13 | DeShawn Shead | CB | $1.2M | 1 year, $3.5M |
| Mar 14 | Thomas Rawls | RB | $615K | Non-tendered |
| Mar 14 | Mike Davis | RB | $615K | Non-tendered |
Remaining free agents
| Date | Player | Pos. | AAV | 2017 Season/Skinny |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| —– | Luke Joeckel | LG | 8M | Missed 5 games with injuries |
| —– | Eddie Lacy | RB | 4.25M | Bust: 179 yards, 0 TDs |
| —– | S. Richardson | DT | 3.6M | Hot commodity after solid year in SEA |
| —– | Luke Willson | TE | 1.8M | Value jumps if Graham leaves |
| —– | Michael Wilhoite | LB | 1.55M | Best beard on team |
| —– | Blair Walsh | K | 1.1M | Eight FG misses |
| —– | Marcus Smith | DE | 990K | A serviceable backup |
| —– | Oday Aboushi | RG | 975K | Played 8 games before injury |
| —– | Matt Tobin | LT | 862K | Played sparingly |
| —– | Terence Garvin | LB | 855K | Solid special teamer |
| —– | Austin Davis | QB | 855K | Played two snaps, but a veteran |
| —– | Byron Maxwell | CB | 755K | Played well in spurts |
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2239405 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2239405">7 Comments
If the Hawks don’t re-sign Willson I’d like to see the club go after Anthony Fasano or Tyler Eifert.
How refreshing, a tight end who will block. But, 30.
Teams often pick up one receiving tight end and one blocking tight end, although the dream is to have both have a complete skill-set. We currently have 2 blocking TE who we hope will be enough of a receiving threat to keep the defense honest. Hopefully this is an indicator of more 2 TE sets and not a lack of confidence in Vannett, because under Bevel we didn’t use 2 TE sets very often.
Really want to see the structure of this contract. I have a hard time seeing him producing 3 years later at age 33. paying him just under 5 mil a year is fine this year but will be cumbersome toward the end when we have more players to “pay.” Hope for a front loaded contract with no dead money in years 2 and 3. Strange signing, dump some aging players but then pick up another.
Someone, anyone, please enlighten me with what Willson’s shortcomings are. Every year we want to improve this position, trading for a stiff like Graham and giving away our pro-bowl center and 1st round draft choice, drafting Vannett, and now trading for this guy. I haven’t seen a shortcoming in Willson’s game – he ran the 40 as fast as Graham, he BLOCKS well, which this horrible OL needs help with, he was the same weight and 1 inch shorter than Graham, and he seems to catch the balls, albeit few and far between, that he is thrown. So I am lost – what is the knock on this guy?
Good question, the coaches don’t seem interested in giving him more play time. Perhaps his shortcoming is that he fails to excel at one thing and the scheme or coaches really wanted something to be done well on that play, receiving or blocking. It does feel like we never really got his full potential tapped but I’m sure another team will.
Can’t point to anything, but can tell you Willson just left Detroit without a deal. That makes Seattle, Jax, Carolina, and now Detroit as not interested.