Never mind whether Jimmy Graham signs a long-term contract with the New Orleans Saints.

Quit worrying, strictly for negotiating purposes, about whether he’s a tight end, a wide receiver or whatever.

Suddenly, at least among the Who Dat fans, there’s a far more pressing question about the Saints’ All-Pro tight end … or whatever position to which the lawyers are able to agree that he plays.

The big debate?

Can he dunk the football after his touchdowns?

The NFL now says no.

Maybe it doesn’t like the cross-promotion for the NBA.

Graham’s agent, in sorting out his “franchise player” tag, now surely has grounds to reasonably petition to have him listed as a “power forward,” for which the average of the top five salaries would surely be more than for the pedestrian tight ends.

But it’s a never-ending job for the NFL’s no-fun police to stay one step ahead of the creativity of its players who wish to celebrate and put their own marks on touchdowns.

For instance, you can no longer stash a cellphone in the goal post padding, even if you put it in silent mode, to phone home after scoring six points.

You’re not supposed to pull a Sharpie from your football trousers on the odd chance that somebody in the front row might want an autograph after one of your touchdowns.

Actually, Graham’s post-touchdown theatrics are pretty tame by NFL standards.

He’s 6-foot-7 and a former basketball player at the University of Miami. He ought to be able to dunk just about anything, including a Toyota, over a 10-foot crossbar.

Far more impressive would be a cross-over dribble with an oblong ball.

So what the NFL is actually saying is: quit breaking our dad-blamed goal posts.

It delays the game and is quite a hassle to get them plumbobbed back to level.

Which is reasonable, I guess.

But in his four years in the NFL, Graham has only rendered two goal posts askew.

It was the same goal posts, twice, in the same end zone of the Georgia Dome, home of the archrival Atlanta Falcons.

He did it last year, famously, and he did it during the Saints’ visit in 2011. Maybe he puts a little more oomph in his dunks when a hated opponent is involved.

So now there’s a rule against it.

The conspiracy theorists will quickly note that Rich McKay, head of the NFL’s competition committee, has a day job as the president and CEO of the Saints’ archrival Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons, of course, are owned by Arthur Blank, one of the Founding Fathers of Home Depot, and the fact that the team with those unique, fixer-upper resources can’t keep its goal posts straight can’t be good for the company image.

The Saints may argue that Graham hasn’t ever bent the goal posts in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, even with far more opportunities.

The lights even stayed on after the rattling was over.

The real problem, apparently, is the (very) occasional delay of the game in fixing said goal posts after Graham’s handiwork.

Here’s an idea: don’t fix them.

Let the penalty for the destructive action to be to take no action, at least not immediately.

If Graham, or any other player, bends the goal posts, then the penalty would be that the ensuing extra point would have to be aimed at the Leaning Tower of Pisa version of standard uprights.

Any other kicks for the remainder of the quarter would face the same skewered challenge.

The worse the destruction, the bigger the challenge for the kicker.

At the end of the quarter, when they need a television timeout anyway, Home Depot can summon a guy from Aisle 4 to get the thing back in working order.

It might even be the answer to the NFL’s desire to liven up the normally mundane extra point.

Graham is complaining, of course, even predicting that he may be the NFL’s most penalized player next year.

Head coach Sean Payton will surely intervene before he racks up too many 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

But Graham should quit pouting and hold his head high.

He has basically had a rule named after him — it’s being called “The Jimmy Graham Rule.”

Can you really put a price tag on that?

Isn’t that more rewarding than the joy and smiles he brings to little tykes in the stadium by bending goal posts with his bare hands.

Anybody can celebrate after a touchdown.

But it takes a real master showman to get a rule named after your bad self.

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at shobbs@americanpress.comNew Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham prepares to stop Atlanta Falcons free safety Thomas DeCoud during the second half of an NFL football game on Nov. 21