So Seattle targeted Graham in the red zone nine times in 11 games in 2015, netting three receptions, one touchdown (of 1 yard, in his first Seahawks game, at St. Louis in September 2015) and one interception. Wilson had a passer rating of 39.8 when targeting Graham inside the 20 that season. Graham’s two touchdown catches overall that year were a career low.

Familiarity in year two, 2016, should have spawned red-zone success. But Graham’s rehabilitation from surgery lasted into September. Wilson didn’t throw to him in the red zone until the third game, against San Francisco.

Graham’s “crazy special, two-touchdown night against Buffalo Nov. 7, when he twice caught passes one-handed in the end zone while a defender was holding his other arm, showed what a weapon Graham is near the goal line. But those two TDs against the Bills were twice as many red-zone scores as Graham had in the final seven games of 2016.

Bevell said Wilson is still learning the mammoth Graham’s “catch radius” and whether he truly is covered or not.

At 6-7 and 265, Graham believe he’s never truly covered. And most times, he’s not. How many 6-7, 265-pound cover guys are there in the league? The answer is fewer than one.

But Wilson has a inherent aversion to throwing passes to covered receivers. It’s why Carroll has loved his QB since he made Wilson’s Seattle starter in week one of his rookie year of 2012. The such a preacher of “protecting the ball” at all costs, Seahawks rookies are reciting it by their first NFL minicamp

But the two touchdown passes against Buffalo last season showed Wilson what can happen when he just throws the ball up to Graham at the goal line. Often, as Brees learned in New Orleans. Graham has 59 touchdown catches: 51 in five seasons with the Saints, eight in two seasons with the Seahawks.

“It’s a learning process for Russ, for Jimmy, and the plays, and the things like how he fits into those plays,” Bevell said. “So it’s a learning process there. It’s great to see him, Russ, give him a couple of opportunities to make some catches and learn the body language, the catch radius, all of those things. And that’s not to say we haven’t had that, but there’s always levels that you can take it to. I think you saw the two plays (Friday) that he had where you’re able to see that.”