Graham: I'm with the best team in football

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On if he hadn’t been traded to a team as successful as Seattle if the trade would have been harder to take: “Well, let’s say first off, leaving New Orleans, I’ve been there for the last five years of my career. When I went there I was a boy and I feel like now I’m leaving as a man. I do owe a lot to New Orleans and I owe a lot to that coaching staff and to all my teammates and to that city for accepting me and believing in me really early. But when I look at it, the most important thing to me in my career is winning championships. Winning trophies and winning rings. That’s really all I care about. So for me it’s unfortunate to have to leave somewhere that you’ve been for so long but when you go into an organization like the Seattle Seahawks, an organization that you can tell that’s all that’s on their mind is winning. And winning rings at that, winning championships and that’s their complete focus. For me, highly encouraged and highly motivated just to be a part of that and just to be able to contribute to that ring is all I care about at this point now.”

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Were you surprised the Saints traded you? “It was definitely shocking. I had worked out in the morning, and I’m actually a pilot, so I took the plane to get some food, so I was actually on a beach down in Florida when I got the call from Sean Payton letting me know that I had just been traded. I was just working out and kind of doing my offseason thing, and next thing I know I’m a Seahawk.”

On if he had any thoughts that the Saints might be interested in trading him: “No, not at all really. I would say about a month ago, maybe not even a month ago, I was in the city and saw Mickey (Loomis) and was talking about next season with Mickey. Even when the season ended, just talking with the coaches, talking about what we’re going to do, what we’re going to work on, so it was definitely out of left field.

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On if he had any issues with the New Orleans organization over the franchise tag issue last year: “I hope it didn’t have any really effect. I think as a player, some players actually have a hard time separating business between things getting personal and just business being business. That’s what you always hear. ‘Hey, it’s a business first.’ When you get franchised and you don’t want to be franchised, you’re going to fight that. You’re going to find a way to try and figure out a long-term deal. Most guys want more of a long-term deal. You want more security especially when you’re going out there and you’re going as hard as you can every Sunday and you’re putting it on the line for your team. I think business is business. I think they understand that and I understood that so I don’t think it affected it.”

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On thoughts on coming to Seattle: “Immediately once Sean (Payton) said I had been traded, I was going through the list of everyone who had a bunch of cap space, thinking either Jacksonville or Oakland or somewhere, but when he told me Seattle, it definitely put a grin on my face. I’ve had some battles clearly against their defense the last couple of years. We’ve struggled against them as a team as a whole. It’s probably the one game as player you always look forward to because they’re always so good and it’s usually a primetime game. So for me it was a moment of shock, but once that shock cleared, I realized that I was going to the best team in football.”

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Were you surprised the Saints traded you? “It was definitely shocking. I had worked out in the morning, and I’m actually a pilot, so I took the plane to get some food, so I was actually on a beach down in Florida when I got the call from Sean Payton letting me know that I had just been traded. I was just working out and kind of doing my offseason thing, and next thing I know I’m a Seahawk.” 

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am i the only one that's OK with Graham leaving?

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