Will the Patriots use the franchise tag this year?

[ctpatsfan77]

BTW, one other not-so-fun fact: Gostkowski's been in the league so long that if he leaves, the Pats can't get better than a 5th round comp pick for him. even if Gostkowski breaks the bank and gets enough to qualify for a higher pick.

 

[Wheelman]

Yikeroonies! I was wrong!

 

[Huckleberry1]

Chiefs tagged Dee Ford to trade him - that should make the locker room fun if they can't find a trade partner.

Lawrence is pissed (and he's tagged at over $20m, I think). Great job, Cowboys!

The tag is too high for the Pats right now - letting these guys go out and see the market is respectful to the players (if I were Flowers, I'd want a lot more than 17m guaranteed money - one play can end or cripple a career).

Pretty sure all these guys will come back to the Pats with their best offer, and that there's less bad blood involved.

When McCourty hit the market, the Pats paid him top $$ to keep him - they got lambasted for the move. They did right by him by letting him judge his real value, then paid it. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing this time around for Flowers - particularly if BB thinks he's the next leader on D when HT and DMac retire.

Bottom line: the Patriots are right more often than wrong on these decisions, when to pay, when to walk.

Hope you are right

 

[40yrpatsfan]

When has using the tag ever worked out well? The player then has all the leverage. It gets worse not better in terms of trying to get him to sign a long term deal. You get him for 1 year at a cap-killing price, then he's gone anyway. Better to just let the guy test the waters - he may come back and sign with us anyway as some have done in the past, and if he doesn't then see you later and we'll take the 3rd or 4th round comp pick.

There's no good way out once it reaches this point. In Flowers' case, he and his agent gambled by not taking the Pats' offers that were probably made over the past year or so, and it paid off for them. Not a thing the Pats could do about it.

And the idea of tagging for the purpose of trading is a long shot too. Would we get anything better than a 3rd rounder? Could the trading partner offer Flowers enough, on top of giving the Pats a high choice?

 

[RobertWeathers]

When has using the tag ever worked out well? The player then has all the leverage. It gets worse not better in terms of trying to get him to sign a long term deal. You get him for 1 year at a cap-killing price, then he's gone anyway. Better to just let the guy test the waters - he may come back and sign with us anyway as some have done in the past, and if he doesn't then see you later and we'll take the 3rd or 4th round comp pick.

There's no good way out once it reaches this point. In Flowers' case, he and his agent gambled by not taking the Pats' offers that were probably made over the past year or so, and it paid off for them. Not a thing the Pats could do about it.

And the idea of tagging for the purpose of trading is a long shot too. Would we get anything better than a 3rd rounder? Could the trading partner offer Flowers enough, on top of giving the Pats a high choice?

Patriots tagged Wilfork. Long term deal was signed.

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Patriots tagged Wilfork. Long term deal was signed.

Ditto with Gostkowski.

 

[supafly]

BTW, one other not-so-fun fact: Gostkowski's been in the league so long that if he leaves, the Pats can't get better than a 5th round comp pick for him. even if Gostkowski breaks the bank and gets enough to qualify for a higher pick.

Could he have realistically brought back a 4th round comp pick? His salary won’t top 4.5m a year AAV.

 

[50-yard-line]

Hope you are right

I think I'm right in my assessment of how it went/will go, but I'm less than 50/50 that he'll be back. I think 40yrpatsfan has it exactly right. Times have changed since the Pats tagged Wilfork, and it doesn't seem to be going well for team/player relationships any longer.

And who can blame the players? A tagged player blows out his Achilles or ACL during the season...how many millions in guarantees did the tagging team cost him? Flowers should be seeing what...50-60 (80????) million in GUARANTEED money (Donald got almost 90m).

Belichick will try to make it work. Of that, I'm sure. But if someone leaps in with crazy money, he can only shrug. The good news is that the draft is full of DL. Will any team really want to break the bank?

 

[Biffins]

Bye Trey. We'll miss you. You are a stud.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Could he have realistically brought back a 4th round comp pick? His salary won’t top 4.5m a year AAV.

It would have to be something like $8M/year. It's extremely unlikely, but in the NFL, desperation is the mother of poor contract inventions.

 

[Pape]

When has using the tag ever worked out well?

traded a tagged matt cassel for a 2nd... that worked out pretty well

 

[40yrpatsfan]

I think I'm right in my assessment of how it went/will go, but I'm less than 50/50 that he'll be back. I think 40yrpatsfan has it exactly right. Times have changed since the Pats tagged Wilfork, and it doesn't seem to be going well for team/player relationships any longer.

And who can blame the players? A tagged player blows out his Achilles or ACL during the season...how many millions in guarantees did the tagging team cost him? Flowers should be seeing what...50-60 (80????) million in GUARANTEED money (Donald got almost 90m).

Belichick will try to make it work. Of that, I'm sure. But if someone leaps in with crazy money, he can only shrug. The good news is that the draft is full of DL. Will any team really want to break the bank?

If anyone's offering like $60m guaranteed, Pats will walk from that.

But the way they're approaching this is the only choice. Can't tag any player unless it's just a case of needing a couple of weeks to iron out contract details. You can't sustain a $20m cap hit, and it gets you no leverage. Look at the Redskins and Cousins, tagged him 2 straight years which raised total hell with their cap those 2 seasons, and he still walked. And the sh*tstorm over not tagging Jimmy G was insane ignorance.

In a case like Flowers, you get 1 chance in his next to last year to extend him, and if the player doesn't bite, that's it. The tag isn't gonna do a thing to help.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

traded a tagged matt cassel for a 2nd... that worked out pretty well

But that was a case where their only play was a trade, they didn't want to keep him. Here they want to keep Flowers, on some terms that they control, so letting him shop is the only option.

 

[Pape]

But that was a case where their only play was a trade, they didn't want to keep him. Here they want to keep Flowers, on some terms that they control, so letting him shop is the only option.

yup, you are indeed correct. I was just doing the glass half full type thing.

Flowers will get offers, I just hope that no one blows him away, allowing the Pats a chance to match/come close enough. Miami is considered the front runner because of Flores, but they aren't in great cap shape... That Suh deal is still messing with their cap... still carrying 13 million in dead money on that one.

 

[Pape]

And who can blame the players? A tagged player blows out his Achilles or ACL during the season...how many millions in guarantees did the tagging team cost him? Flowers should be seeing what...50-60 (80????) million in GUARANTEED money (Donald got almost 90m).

Flowers is good, but 60 is more than a little steep, 40-50 more realistic... the total value of the chandler jones deal in arizona is 82 million, with 53 in guarantees... Flowers good enough to rate a deal like that?

 

[Froob]

Flowers at 17 mill is pretty wild. JJ Watt is getting 16..

 

[maust]

When has using the tag ever worked out well?

In addition to Wilfork, Gostkowski in 2015 worked pretty well

 

[50-yard-line]

Flowers is good, but 60 is more than a little steep, 40-50 more realistic... the total value of the chandler jones deal in arizona is 82 million, with 53 in guarantees... Flowers good enough to rate a deal like that?

Cap went up, teams have cash, few choices on the market. On cap % increase alone, 59m = Jones 53m. And Jones didn't test the FA market.

I'll be really surprised if Flowers' guarantee isn't 50+ (on a 5 year deal).

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Anyone know what the salary would've been if they tagged Ghost?