New Orleans Saints legend Jimmy Graham is officially getting the “Legend of the Game” treatment. The team announced that the five-time Pro Bowler will be honored before Sunday’s rivalry matchup with the Atlanta Falcons at Caesars Superdome, with Graham serving as the club’s featured Legend of the Game.
The ceremony comes just months after Graham confirmed he plans to retire from the NFL as a member of the Saints, closing the book on one of the most productive tight end careers in league history.
Saints Name Jimmy Graham ‘Legend of the Game’ vs Falcons
The Saints said Graham will be recognized on the field as the team’s Legend of the Game prior to kickoff against Atlanta, giving fans a chance to salute him before another chapter of the long-running NFC South rivalry.
In six seasons with New Orleans (2010-14, 2024), Graham appeared in 91 regular-season games and posted 392 receptions for 4,791 yards and 55 touchdowns, plus 210 receiving yards and three more scores in the playoffs. He made three Pro Bowls and earned two Associated Press All-Pro nods during that span.
Graham later added two more Pro Bowl selections with the Seattle Seahawks, bringing his career total to five. Across 13 NFL seasons with the Saints, Seahawks, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, he finished with 719 catches for 8,545 yards and 89 touchdown receptions.
The numbers back up the way the Saints framed the announcement. The team calls Graham the most productive tight end in franchise history and notes he ranks fourth in NFL history in touchdown catches among tight ends, and eighth in receptions and receiving yards at the position.
His peak was 2013, when Graham put up 86 receptions for 1,215 yards and 16 touchdown catches. Those 16 receiving touchdowns led the entire NFL that season, not just tight ends, and remain one of the top single-year totals ever for the position. From 2011-14, he led all tight ends in receptions, yards and touchdown grabs.
In July, Graham and the team made it official: his last NFL snap came in New Orleans, and he’ll retire with a Saints logo attached to his name, something even general manager Mickey Loomis called “exciting” for the franchise.
Why Honoring Graham vs the Falcons ‘Feels Right’ for Saints Fans
Picking Falcons week for a Jimmy Graham celebration is not an accident.
Graham is at the center of one of the most famous Saints-Falcons moments ever: his 2013 “goalpost dunk” in Atlanta that bent the crossbar and briefly delayed the game after a long touchdown. The incident helped spur the NFL to crack down on dunking over the goalpost and is still remembered as part of the so-called Jimmy Graham rule. Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba received a fine for dunking a goal post just weeks ago this season.
A year earlier, he helped fuel the rivalry off the field when he tweeted that the Saints’ team bus had been pelted with eggs by airport workers after landing in Atlanta, something multiple outlets later confirmed and tied directly to Falcons week.
Now, with the Saints again hosting their division rival, Graham’s Legend of the Game moment lets the fanbase revisit that era of high-flying offense and bad blood, even as the current roster and coaching staff work to write a new chapter.
It also comes on the heels of Graham’s latest “big swing” away from football. In July, he and a three-person crew completed the Arctic Challenge, rowing more than 584 nautical miles across the Arctic Ocean from Norway to Svalbard in just over 10 days. The group set a world record for a four-person team, logged multiple firsts for a mixed-gender, all-American crew and used the expedition to raise money for Covenant House New Orleans and Laureus Sport for Good New Orleans.
For the Saints, Sunday’s ceremony is a way to tie all of that together — the 2013 NFL touchdown leader, the most productive tight end in team history, and now a world-record adventurer — in front of a home crowd that watched Graham grow from raw basketball convert to one of Drew Brees’ most dangerous weapons.
Jimmy Graham’s Resume at a Glance
- Five-time Pro Bowler, two-time AP All-Pro.
- 2013 NFL receiving touchdown leader with 16 TD catches.
- Most productive tight end in Saints history: 392 catches, 4,791 yards, 55 TDs in New Orleans.
- Fourth all-time in TD receptions among NFL tight ends (89).
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