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February 2008
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We're three days into the 15-day window for teams to place the franchise tag on players, and so far, only one player -- Eagles TE L.J. Smith -- has officially been slapped with the designation. Surely, more are coming. Oakland CB Nnamdi Asomugha and Tennessee DT Albert Haynesworth are expected to get it, and Seattle CB Marcus Trufant, Arizona LB Karlos Dansby and New England WR Randy Moss could too. As could Cowboys OT Flozell Adams. I'm on record as saying there'd be plenty of benefit to tagging Adams, not the least of which would be buying a year to further develop the team's young tackles and identify a long-term answer at the position. It's costly, yes, at $9 million (I had the number wrong earlier this week, since I believed the 20 percent raise applied to players tagged in back-to-back years). And most players aren't exactly thrilled when they get hit with the tag, so there's that issue. How do these things usually work out? The answers vary, as detailed by Paul Kuharsky of the Tennessean this week. Follow the jump for the results of Kuharsky's study of the 30 franchise tags handed out since 2004, involving 24 players. • 10 players eventually signed long-term deals with the team that tagged them, five of those before they ever played under the franchise designation. • 7 moved on as free agents when they finally hit the market. • 4 are in line to become free agents on Feb. 29 (Lance Briggs, Josh Brown, Asante Samuel, Justin Smith). • 2 were traded. • 1 had the tag withdrawn and became a free agent. The bottom line here: Only one in six players tagged over the last four off-seasons had the franchise tag serve as a direct precursor to a long-term deal. So if Flo's tagged, the most likely scenario has him playing for the one-year tender in 2008. Interestingly, the Cowboys have only used the franchise tag once in the 16 years it has existed, and that was on Adams in 2002. Flo signed his one-year, $4.92 million tender that April, and then inked a five-year, $25 million extension in 2003. That tagging was about as smooth as it gets in these situations. Usually, players are legitimately upset, and some even use the tag as a way to skip training camp (call that the Walter Jones Technique). And there are plenty of examples of players threatening to sit out through 10 weeks of the season, the point at which they have to report to get an accrued season toward their benefits or -- in the case of players with four years under their belts -- to even become a free agent. Two such cases, those of Briggs and Samuel, arose last season. Each player said he was going to sit. Briggs wound up showing at the start of camp, and Samuel arrived two weeks before the season started and went on to have an All-Pro year. The point is, it rarely winds up messing with a team's season. There's a chance that tagging Flo could lead him to sit out camp. Maybe there'd even be some grousing. But he was out for much of 2007's camp and, six months later, is in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. At 33, Adams is still playing at a high level and remains invaluable as Tony Romo's blindside protection. Will he be the same in three years? The franchise tag, while costly, would make it so the Cowboys don't have to gamble on that. Now, if they know things that we don't about Doug Free or Pat McQuistan being able to take over at left tackle, then the solution here changes. But while the team's past says that Adams being tagged is unlikely, it wouldn't exactly be shocking to see the first player in club history to get the franchise desigination also be the second. |
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Comments
Posted by Redskins_Rule @ 12:10 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
why not tag "1st and 15 Flo"...that should eat up about 1/2 the Cowboys available cap space...and I hear Wade plays a mean game of tag with a Krispy Kreme box of lemon kremes...seems the box is always "it"...HA HA HA...Hail to the Redskins!!!...
Posted by claytoncountycowboy @ 12:16 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
Shouldn't you be on a Redskin's board discussing your new head coach?
Posted by rolando @ 12:29 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
Flo's great, but we should only offer him a discounted, market value 3 year deal for a left tackle. The franchise tag would be lunacy -- for that much of a cap charge, we could fit in a monster contract for Trufant or Samuel if they become available.
Fact is, guys, Flo basically handled every premier rusher that got thrown at him. Can't ask for much more from that position.
Posted by Gadfly22 @ 12:44 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
Can you explain how tagging Flo costs $9 million even with the 20% rule taken into account. Every description of the tag rule says a player gets the higher of the top-5 average (I think about $7.5 million for O-linemen in 2008) or 120% of the prior year's salary (not cap charge or other higher number}. Since Flo's 2007 salary was only about $5 million (120% of which is only $6 million), where does the $9 million number come from?
Posted by Cowboyforlife @ 1:08 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
I would do it to buy another year to see if his replacements on the roster. If I were a Skins fan I would not be worried about Flo today I would be scared of my new head coach....ouch
Posted by Ogilvie @ 1:23 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
By golly that's it. The Redskins guy works for Krispy Kreme! KK is getting free advertising every time he posts. Timmy and the boys should recognize spam when they see it. The Craptcha Code isn't working.
Posted by Redskins_Rule @ 1:26 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
Face it, Cow-Fans, there's nothing coming your way but a bunch of pain in '08...Zorn is gonna open up a can of whup-a$$ on your weakling O-line...are you sure Wade Checkerpants wasn't actually handing out Krispy Kremes to them at halftime of your Giants debacle?...HA HA HA...look at it this way, you'll have me around even MORE often next season when we start BURYING you on a regular basis...oops, time for my meds...SCOREBOARD 'Skins!!!...
Posted by Redskins_Rule @ 2:07 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
well I certainly see my work may well be done here (^) LOL!!!...looks like Robin is ready to give Batman a well needed vacation!!!...or is that vice/versa?...I just can't see my being able to pull off a believable RAMS FAN LOL!!!...and I don't want to face the wrath of Timmy Mac...HA HA HA...Hail to the Redskins!!!...
Posted by Redskins_Rule @ 2:25 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
BTW bizarro R_R...where were you last night when I was facing the gruel of Hap and the other mensas on this blog?...thanks alot LOL!!!...
Posted by Mike G @ 2:33 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
Since this is a Cowboys Blog, I will stick to the Cowboys talk and franchising Flo does not make sense. Great teams let there stars go a year early instead of a year late. Flo may be good again next year but then what happens?? You drafted Mcquistan and Free to replace Flo and Columbo so go ahead and do it. If you can not feel comfortable doing it now than you wasted those draft picks.
Posted by Scott @ 4:34 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
I've said it before and I'll say it again; good LTs are at a premium and it would be a mistake for Dallas not to sign him to a multi-year deal with the team in position to contend for the title.