Breer and Reiss overviews of franchise/transition tags

[pats1]

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/patriots/?p=959

February 8th, 2007
Franchise vs. Transition
Posted by Albert Breer at 12:56 pm

Today is the first day NFL teams can designate franchise and transition players, with the window to do so open for two weeks, until Feb. 22. So we’ll take a look at each tag (the franchise number is the average of the top five salaries at a position, the transition’s an average of the top 10) and how they relate to the Patriots’ 2007 offseason:

FRANCHISE TAG

The Numbers:

QB: $12.615 Million
OL: $9.556 Million
DE: $8.644 Million
CB: $7.790 Million
WR: $7.613 Million
LB: $7.206 Million
RB: $6.999 Million
DT: $6.775 Million
S: $4.490 Million
TE: $4.371 Million
P/K: $2.078 Million

The Rules: Teams are allowed to tag one player with the franchise designation. Other clubs are allowed to sign such players to offer sheets, but the original team retains matching rights for seven days after the offer sheet is turned in to the league. If the player’s original team does not match, it will be compensated with the signing team’s assigned first-round draft picks in two consecutive years. The player also has the option of signing the one-year franchise tender.

Positives: The player’s original team is very much protected, with two first-rounders often considered too high a price to pay for any free agent. Usually, this closes the market on a free agent and, in many cases, forces a one-year deal. That can allow the original team more time to work out a long-term deal.

Negatives: Hard feelings, mostly. Most players hate — and that is not too strong a word — getting hit with the franchise tag. It usually prevents them from driving up their price tag on the open market and getting the big money up front that free agents usually look for. While the franchise tag does get them a nice salary for the following year, it can curtail their search for long-term financial security.

TRANSITION TAG

The Numbers:

QB: $10.182 Million
OL: $8.267 Million
DE: $7.701 Million
CB: $6.766 Million
WR: $7.040 Million
LB: $6.493 Million
RB: $5.981 Million
DT: $5.554 Million
S: $3.984 Million
TE: $3.612 Million
P/K: $1.926 Million

The Rules: Teams are allowed to tag two players with the transition designation. As is the case with franchise players, tagged free agents can negotiate and sign offer sheets with other teams. And the original team still retains matching rights for seven days after the offer sheet is signed. The difference is that if an offer sheet is signed, there is no compensation to the original teams.

Positives: The original team still maintains a modicum of control, given that it can match any offer made to its free agents. And some of the strained feelings that come from franchising a player may not exist here, since the open market for such a player is just that: an open market.

Negatives: The control mentioned above isn’t necessarily all that real. An outside team, if it really wants a player, will often come in and drop a poison pill into the offer sheet, usually designed specifically to make it very difficult for a player’s original team to match. Last year, it happened with Steve Hutchinson. The all-everything guard was signed to a a seven-year, $49 million offer sheet by the Vikings, which included a provision that if he wasn’t the team’s highest-paid lineman, the deal would become fully guaranteed. Walter Jones, the Seahawks’ all-everything left tackle, was already making more than Hutchinson’s offer sheet dictated. So by matching, Seattle would have been signing Hutchinson to an unheard-of guaranteed seven-year deal. Provisions such as these have made the transition tag almost irrelevant.

HOW IT ALL RELATES TO THE PATRIOTS

Most players don’t like being franchised, and CB Asante Samuel figures to be firmly in that camp — even if he would be guaranteed to make the $7.79 Million that the franchise number dictates, which is far more than he’s made in his first four years as a pro. Consider that Charles Woodson signed a deal last year with the Packers that paid him $10.5 Million in its first season and $18 Million through three years. And consider that Woodson wasn’t even that hot a name. He was someone who was set to turn 30, carried an injury history and was thought to have lost a step.

On the Patriots’ side, it’s hard to see them swallowing the idea of committing $7.79 Million in cap space to one player for 2007. Yes, it could happen and with close to $30 Million in cap space, there’s certainly room to facilitate it. But after the Deion Branch fiasco last season, it could lead to a holdout and may hamstring the team’s other offseason dealings. Bottom line: Don’t count it. And while the transition tag may be an option, there seems to be little use in applying it to Samuel. If he’s tagged with that and wants out, he’ll be able to leave without much of a problem.

That brings us to the only other player that would warrant one of these tags at this point: TE Daniel Graham. The Patriots’ history says this could happen. The Patriots have franchised just two players in the Bill Belichick era: K Adam Vinatieri and S Tebucky Jones. The two of those guys relate directly to Graham. Kickers/Punters carry the lowest franchise tender, while safeties have the third-lowest number. Wedged right in between those two positions? That’s right, tight end. So there is some history of the Patriots using the tag in that salary neighborhood.

Again, there is risk involved. The team/player relationship can be affected to a point of no return on these things, so the Patriots may have to tread lightly. The wild card here is that there is depth at that position, with Benjamin Watson and promising ‘06 rookie David Thomas on board, and ‘06 fourth-round pick Garrett Mills waiting in the wings. That said, Graham brings a level of blocking that’s not there with the others and has been invaluable in helping the line protect against premier pass rushers, skills that can’t be discounted. Certainly, the Patriots naming Graham a captain in midseason shows how much they think of him. And the guess here is that if someone’s going to get franchised, it will be him.

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

February 08, 2007
Tag period

Today marks the first day that NFL teams can place the franchise or transition tag on players who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents. The period extends to Feb. 22.

Since the tags were created in the collective bargaining agreement in 1993, the Patriots have used them only three times.

A history of the Patriots' use of the franchise tag:

2002 -- Placed franchise tag on Adam Vinatieri, before removing the tag and signing him to a three-year extension

2003 -- Placed franchise tag on Tebucky Jones before trading him to the Saints for draft picks

2005 -- Placed franchise tag on Adam Vinatieri; the kicker played under that one-year deal

PATS FREE AGENTS: The players likely under consideration for the franchise tag are cornerback Asante Samuel ($7.79 million) and tight end Daniel Graham ($4.31 million). Given that the market at both cornerback and tight end is thin -- and Samuel and Graham are top players at the position -- that could impact the Patriots' thinking in regards to the franchise tag.

Posted By: mreiss | Time: 08:30:39 AM