Rico Gathers said he used to watch a lot of film of tight ends Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham earlier in his career but eventually started viewing highlights of New England star Rob Gronkowski.

"I feel like me and Gronkowski got the same kind of run style, play style, so I watch him a lot nowadays," Gathers said. "And Witten, just watching him. I think for a transition player it's about finding out what is comfortable for you and being able to execute your assignments as well as you can."

Related players: Blake Jarwin, Geoff Swaim

With Witten retired, Gathers has a chance to see the field this year ... something that hasn't happened over his first two seasons thanks mostly to a concussion. Gathers is also working on his blocking. We currently have Gathers third on the depth chart behind Jarwin and Swaim.

Jimmy Graham isn’t worried about developing chemistry with Aaron Rodgers. The Green Bay Packers' new tight end knows how good his new quarterback is, and through the first three days of training camp, they’ve already made plenty of progress.

But when will Graham know that he and Rodgers are truly on the same page?

“I’ll be with the ball in the end zone,” Graham said after Saturday’s first in-pads practice of camp. “That’s really when you know.”

As the story said, they haven't connected for a TD yet in any of the 11-on-11 team periods of the first three practices, but the two have connected plenty of times during drills and expect to be on the same wavelength in time for the team's Sept. 9 regular season opener against Chicago. Rodgers said the two "just need more reps."

The one-year deal Seattle gave WR Brandon Marshall in May includes only $90,000 guaranteed, which is reflective of his age (34) and uncertain health as he comes off surgeries on his ankle and toe. The Seahawks' ideal scenario would have the 6-foot-5 Marshall getting back to full speed before the season and giving Russell Wilson the big target he lost when Jimmy Graham left in free agency. But if Marshall isn't progressing as well as hoped and/or if the Seahawks decide there's more value in keeping a younger receiver instead, they could move on relatively painlessly before the season begins.

This would only further solidify Doug Baldwin as a high-floor WR option in the late-second/early-third round of fantasy drafts with fellow WR Tyler Lockett a trendy sleeper in the double-digit rounds.

According to Adam Schefter, Jimmy Graham will sign a three-year deal with the Green Bay Packers.

Graham has never quite lived up the monster numbers he put up in New Orleans (catching 85 or more passes in four of his five seasons, with three seasons of 10 or more touchdowns), but he has been a decent fantasy tight in his last two seasons as a Seahawk—finishing as a top-six scoring fantasy tight end both seasons.

Now he gets to play with Aaron Rodgers on a Packers team that needs help at tight end—Richard Rodgers led Packers tight ends in catches (18) and yards last season (203), while the position accounted for two total touchdowns.

TE Jimmy Graham had 10 touchdown receptions this season in what was his third year in Seattle. And he is maybe Russell Wilson’s best friend on the team — Wilson entertainingly referred to Graham on Monday as being “like a unicorn. There are only so many of them in the world.’’ Generally considered really unlikely to be back in Seattle.

The author noted that Graham has been an uneven fit in Seattle and at age 31 is undoubtedly excited to enter free agency for the first time in his NFL career.