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... in 2009. If you haven't noticed, much of the would-be talent on the free agent was once again removed from it by the widespread use of the franchise tag. By my count, it's a new record of 11 players that have been tagged (Jared Allen, Nnamdi Asomugha, Dallas Clark, Albert Haynesworth, Stacy Andrews, Terrell Suggs, Marcus Trufant, Karlos Dansby, Jordan Gross, Corey Williams, and L.J. Smith) with Randy Moss probably to be tagged today. That's the way the "franchise" tag works these days; the tag is applied to players who clearly aren't singularly representative of the "franchise" or are that franchises' best player but who still are very valuable and whose teams don't want to see hit the open market with 80% of other teams in excellent cap shape.
Anyway, one bright spot from this frequent application is that it demonstrates the high probability of the Bills at least tagging Lee Evans next offseason if A) no contract extension can be reached this summer with him and B) that Evans at least mildly improves upon an unmitigated disaster of an '07. There are plenty of Bills' fans who cynically believe that this will be Evans' last season (this upcoming season). I say... no, no way... unless he shows no improvement, which is unlikely. The truth is, the franchise tag works very compatibly with 'cash to the cap' because it doesn't involve adding the total guaranteed money of a lengthy contract against the cap; it only involves counting against the cap the guaranteed money of that next season's salary (all the tag guarantees is the upcoming season's salary). The Bills have used the tag before, even under Jauron; Buffalo tagged Nate Clements two offseasons ago in '06. And with good but certainly not elite players like L.J. Smith and Stacy Andrews being tagged nowadays, do not expect Evans to go anywhere- contract extension or no contract extension- if he has a good 2008. I would stake whatever board credibility (or anonymity, LOL) I may have on it, in fact...
Anyway, one bright spot from this frequent application is that it demonstrates the high probability of the Bills at least tagging Lee Evans next offseason if A) no contract extension can be reached this summer with him and B) that Evans at least mildly improves upon an unmitigated disaster of an '07. There are plenty of Bills' fans who cynically believe that this will be Evans' last season (this upcoming season). I say... no, no way... unless he shows no improvement, which is unlikely. The truth is, the franchise tag works very compatibly with 'cash to the cap' because it doesn't involve adding the total guaranteed money of a lengthy contract against the cap; it only involves counting against the cap the guaranteed money of that next season's salary (all the tag guarantees is the upcoming season's salary). The Bills have used the tag before, even under Jauron; Buffalo tagged Nate Clements two offseasons ago in '06. And with good but certainly not elite players like L.J. Smith and Stacy Andrews being tagged nowadays, do not expect Evans to go anywhere- contract extension or no contract extension- if he has a good 2008. I would stake whatever board credibility (or anonymity, LOL) I may have on it, in fact...
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