The Green Bay Packers aren't concerned about tight end Jimmy Graham's finger injury that sidelined him for a large portion of training camp. He returned to practice on Sunday and is expected to play for Thursday's Week 1 bout against the Chicago Bears. As ESPN's Rob Demovsky said on Monday:
“Matt LaFleur said tight end Jimmy Graham has expressed no concerns about being able to catch the ball despite his right ring finger and pinky being taped together. “He told me, ‘What finger? It's game week,'” LaFleur said.”
Graham is entering the second year of his three-year $30 million deal given to him by the Packers in 2018 free agency. In his first year, the 32-year-old and former All-Pro didn't live up to his big contract; reeling in 55 catches for 636 yards and two touchdowns — career-low numbers for a season in which he started 12+ games.
Before his injury. Graham vowed to shut his critics up and show new head coach Matt LaFleur what he can do. He said via madison.com:
“When I get those opportunities, I have to show him that I’m the biggest, fastest thing out there. I have to go up and get those grabs for him. I’ve been focused and I’m ready to get this thing started obviously. We have four more weeks here, but I’m about as fired up as I’ve ever been to go and shut a lot of people up.”
Despite his injury, Graham appears to be aiming for Week 1 against the Bears to be that “shut a lot of people up” game.
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