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The Facts: Following up on the ongoing story. ... As the Saints and Graham prepare for an inevitable showdown on the question of whether Graham is a tight end or receiver for franchise-tag purposes, the Saints have some good news. The Saints apparently won’t be risking an outcome that includes Graham becoming a unrestricted free agent. Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the letter informing the player of the use of the franchise tag doesn’t designate the position at which he’s being tendered.
Diehards Line:
As PFT's Mike Florio explained, there had been a school of thought in league circles that, if the Saints tender Graham as a tight end and Graham successfully proves that he’s a receiver under the standard contained in the CBA, the third-party resolving the issue could declare that the Saints swung and missed and that they don’t get another chance to tag Graham the right way. But that's not the case because they wouldn’t actually be tendering Graham at any specific position at all. A league source tells PFT that the Saints would tag Graham generally, and that the league would then determine whether he’s tendered as a tight end or as a receiver. The initial designation comes from the NFL’s Management Council. So if the Management Council decides Graham is a tight end, Graham and the NFLPA would then challenge the designation. If Graham wins, the designation presumably would be altered without the Saints having to re-issue the tag. Again, this is an important story both for the Saints and Fantasy owners. We'll be following up as needed.