5 players the Green Bay Packers held on to for too long

2. Jimmy Graham

The Packers' first mistake was signing Jimmy Graham. The next mistake was not moving on sooner.

Green Bay needed help at the tight end position in 2018 and turned to Graham in free agency. At his best, Graham had been a dominant receiving tight end with the New Orleans Saints, making three Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams. He had two 1,000-yard seasons and led the NFL with 16 receiving touchdowns in 2013.

But those days were well behind him by the time he arrived in Green Bay. Graham finished his final season with the Seattle Seahawks with only 520 receiving yards and a career-worst 9.1 yards per reception. The only positive was that he had 10 touchdown catches.

However, Graham would only find the end zone five times during his two seasons with the Packers. While a solid pass-catcher, Graham was nowhere near the game-changing addition the Packers thought they were getting.

It was clear after year one that Graham wasn't Green Bay's answer at tight end. He only had two touchdown catches and finished with over 50 receiving yards in only three games. The Packers would've saved around $5 million in cap space by moving on after one year, but they stuck with him, and Graham's numbers got even worse in 2019.