Rampant use of the Franchise Tag- Evans' Prime Candidate...

[Midwesternbillsfan]

... 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...

[Typ0]

the franchise tag should only be used on a player who is in the top five at their position and Evans isn't that. Tagging him and paying the same amount Moss is getting paid would be kind of rediculous.

[raphael120]

Yeah Im sorry but Evans is good but he's not franchise tag good.

[DraftBoy]

Transition Tag maybe but not Franchise

[kernowboy]

I wouldn't Transition Tag him, as a team can do a Hutchinson, putting ridiculous clauses into a contract making it ridiculous to match and resulting in us getting no compensation.

If Evans won't sign a long term deal, I would franchise him, but unlike Clements would immediately look to trade him and would accept a R1 & R3 for him rather than the current two R1 picks a team has to give up, just to move him on.

This is because if he doesn't want to resign or demands too much, he may become a distraction during an important year and we can trade him for a pick which might become

Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech (6ft3, 222lbs, 4.49 dash)
Darrius Heyward-Bey, Maryland (6ft3, 195lbs, 4.37 dash)
Brandon LaFell, LSU (6ft3, 205lbs, 4.46 dash)
Oderick Turner, Pittsburgh (6ft3, 200lbs, 4.48 dash)
Brian Robiskie, Ohio St (6ft3, 195lbs, 4.50 dash)

and also provide us with a R3 player, who could turn into someone extremely useful like a DE or a CB

There are always a selection of WR in most drafts.

[DraftBoy]

I wouldn't Transition Tag him, as a team can do a Hutchinson, putting ridiculous clauses into a contract making it ridiculous to match and resulting in us getting no compensation.

If Evans won't sign a long term deal, I would franchise him, but unlike Clements would immediately look to trade him and would accept a R1 & R3 for him rather than the current two R1 picks a team has to give up, just to move him on.

This is because if he doesn't want to resign or demands too much, he may become a distraction during an important year and we can trade him for a pick which might become

Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech (6ft3, 222lbs, 4.49 dash)
Darrius Heyward-Bey, Maryland (6ft3, 195lbs, 4.37 dash)
Brandon LaFell, LSU (6ft3, 205lbs, 4.46 dash)
Oderick Turner, Pittsburgh (6ft3, 200lbs, 4.48 dash)
Brian Robiskie, Ohio St (6ft3, 195lbs, 4.50 dash)

and also provide us with a R3 player, who could turn into someone extremely useful like a DE or a CB

There are always a selection of WR in most drafts.

I think they have since corrected that problem, but Im not sure

[Night Train]

If they can pay Kelsay, they can pay Evans. Sign him already.

[kernowboy]

If he refuses to sign or discuss, we need to investigate a trade that will gain max value.

If we are out of the Playoff race, and a team offers a R1 and a R3, I will take it straightaway even before the end of the season.

We can get similar speed and much more size.

We will be picking high enough to grab a top WR and will still have a second R1 pick to manoever to wherever we want.

I see little point in retaining players who don't want to be in Buffalo

[mchurchfie]

I disagree about Evans. If we get a stable offensive system in place with the same QB he is All-Pro caliber. He can run like the wind and catch, he just needs to get his head screwed back on right.

[Michael82]

If you can't get Lee Evans signed long term, I don't give a **** what any of you say. He is definitely one of the top WRs in the league and should be slapped with the franchise tag so we don't lose him for nothing.

[DraftBoy]

If you can't get Lee Evans signed long term, I don't give a **** what any of you say. He is definitely one of the top WRs in the league and should be slapped with the franchise tag so we don't lose him for nothing.

He is not worth top 5 money, not even close, top 15-20 yes

[Mitchy moo]

Evans value cannot be based on the past 2 seasons. I mean christ we didn't even have a guy that was calling offense plays, he just called simpleton plays that any D-tard could counter. If we get at least one great WR / A great TE and the line continues to grow together with Trent / ML, then I expect Lee to be in the top 10 of all WR, at least. I really expect all of this to happen and with $40M to spend this season, I think it will come about. The line is nearly set, the QB is set and the RB is set, now we just need some extra firepower to force opponents to single cover him.

[m1orenz]

I think they have since corrected that problem, but Im not sure

poisen pills are still legal to use

[Midwesternbillsfan]

Granted, none of the players slapped with the tag have been WR's and the average number of the top-five highest paid WR's is somewhat steep. That said, it's becoming endemic to the NFL that who don't allow value to hit the market, as long as there isn't either an explicit stipulation that an organization will not tag a second time (Bills' Clements, Bears' Briggs, Patriots' Samuels) or if it's an organization that typically does not apply the tag (like the Bears; they've only used the tag once in their history- that was for Briggs and they don't look to be tagging Bernard Berrian).

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback, but what some of you might be overlooking is that I said that this must involve Lee Evans having a bounceback season; obviously anything resembling 2007 means that he will not be tagged and effectively will be playing elsewhere in 2009. But I am of the belief that he will have a much better season and that the Bills will find a way to keep (even up to 'franchising' him and paying him a high salary but one whose rules are very compatible with 'cash to the cap').

[kernowboy]

I actually think he becomes a free agent in 2010, not 2009 according to the KFFL site

[Midwesternbillsfan]

I actually think he becomes a free agent in 2010, not 2009 according to the KFFL site

He's able to opt out after 2008, actually. If you want me to, I can source it but he said as much on WGR550 in January. He's essentially said that he would [opt out], but that he wanted to begin contract negotiations this summer w/Buffalo.

[Jeff1220]

The pay scale of the tag does not equal the value of the players it is put on. It has more to do with that player's value in comparison to other options on the market at that point in time. Any FA's market value at the time he is to become UFA is more a measuring stick of the use of the franchise tag in this day and age.
I'd imagine that Evans will be worth it.

[Midwesternbillsfan]

The pay scale of the tag does not equal the value of the players it is put on. It has more to do with that player's value in comparison to other options on the market at that point in time. Any FA's market value at the time he is to become UFA is more a measuring stick of the use of the franchise tag in this day and age.
I'd imagine that Evans will be worth it.

That's a much more succinct way of explaining it and rationalizing it; thanks, Jeff.

[yordad]

Sign him long term now. Franchise him if you can't (when the time comes). Heck, do it twice if you have to.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

It's easy to say "Sign him now", but that might now be as easy as it sounds if he doesn't want to re-sign or doesn't want to re-sign immediately.

I know that Evans said that he is looking forward to negotiating with the Bills this summer, but the fact that he said "this summer" and did not indicate that he wanted to start negotiations immediately feeds a suspicion that I have been developing about Evans--and, at this point, let me make it clear that it is just a suspicion that I have, NOTHING MORE:

Lee Evans clearly was an "unhappy camper" with the Bills last season:

1.) He was very open in his support of JP Losman as the starting QB and about his unhappiness that JP lost the starting QB job to T.Edwards after his injury at the start of the season.

2.) He was extremely frustrated by Trent Edwards' reluctance to throw the ball deep to him during his initial stint as the starting QB. While some of the blame for that goes to then-OC S.Fairchild, it was also clear from statements that both Fairchild and Schonert made later that some of that was due to Edwards' impatience (preference for "checking down" to shorter routes, rather than wait for deeper pass patterns to develop) and unwillingness to risk turnovers (something that the coaches stressed, but that is always a greater risk on deeper patterns). Again, Evans voiced his frustration not only towards the coaches, but obliquely in some of his comments favoring Losman's return to the starting QB job.

3.) While Evans didn't complain about Losman's second benching and did praise Edwards' development after Edwards returned to the starting QB job at the end of the season, his support for Edwards did not come close to being as unequivocal as his earlier support for Losman.

4.) Like all of the rest of the Bills receivers, Evans also made it clear that he was very unhappy with the way that S.Fairchild ran the Bills offense last season.

As a result, going into the OTAs this season, Evans very well may have some serious concerns about what the Bills' offense will be like this season and how that might not only impact his stats, but also create serious frustrations for him:

1.) While Turk Schonert has promised that, as the new OC, there will be significant changes in the Bills passing game this up-coming season, he and Jauron have also said that, in many ways, it will be essentially the same offense.

2.) In all likelihood, Evans' pal, JP Losman will be gone this season. If that happens, if Edwards fails, takes a step backwards, is inconsistent, or gets injured, that means that it is also likely that whoever is backing up Edwards will not have nearly the same rapport with Evans that Losman had--which could mean that Evans' opportunities to shine will be seriously reduced.

3.) With Edwards firmly installed as the starting QB, if Edwards doesn't take a step forward this season in his development and continues to show a reluctance to throw the ball deep to Evans as he did last season, that, too, could also be very frustrating for Evans as well.

With these questions in his mind--and given how frustrated he was last season--it would certainly be understandable if Evans (and his agent) had some serious reservations about signing a contract extension with the Bills--certainly before he had a chance to see what kind of changes Schonert intends to make in the Bills passing game and play-calling and had a chance to assess how well Edwards is progressing in his development and whether the two of them can develop a better rapport with one another than they had last season.

From Evans' perspective, it would only make sense to wait, at least until the end of the OTAs, before beginning any kind of negotiations on a contract extention with the Bills: if he believes that he can be an All-Pro WR and deserves to be paid as a # 1 WR (and why wouldn't he?) in the right offense with the right starting QB and he knows that he won't be able to put up the kind of numbers to justify either of those things unless the Bills offense and his rapport with Edwards is going to be significantly better than it was last season, why shouldn't he wait to see what the Bills offense and his rapport with Edwards has the potential to be like this season before talking contract with the Bills?

While I think Evans likes Buffalo and the Bills and would like to stay with the team, I doubt (because it would be illogical not to) that he would want to stay with the team if he feels that doing so would significantly hurt his career or earning power (because the Bills offensive system will not use him enough or the starting QB won't throw to him enough). It would make no sense for him to do so. So, with plenty of time still remaining for him to work out a contract extension with the Bills, why not wait until he can get a feel for whether he can achieve his goals by staying or not? It would only make sense for him to do so--at least until sometime this summer.

Because Evans is their best play-maker on offense right now and because everything that I have seen indicates that the Bills would like to keep Evans, I suspect (and it is a suspicion that has been growing for some weeks now) that the reason that we haven't heard anything about the Bills working on a contract extension with Evans may well be because Evans (and, likely, his agent) has decided that it would be better for him to wait a little--until he can see what will be happening with the Bills offense this coming season--before starting (or not starting) contract negotiations with the Bills.

Now, again, this is just a suspicion that I have--and I could be totally wrong--but, if this is the case, it may not be a case of the Bills not wanting or trying to start contract negotiations with Evans, but a case of Evans not being ready or willing, yet, to start talking to the Bills about extending his contract. And, if the latter is the case, then, there really isn't anything that the Bills, as an organization, can do about it until Evans and his agent are ready to start talking with them.

One thing that a lot of fans just don't seem to want to comprehend is that it takes agreement on two sides to make a deal and that, sometimes, no matter how much one side wants to make a deal and is willing to offer, the other side may not be ready or willing to even talk about, let alone make, a deal. And, that not only applies to contract extensions, but to free agent signings as well.

NOTE: On the other hand, the Bills have been known to conduct contract talks very quietly with their players in recent years, only revealing that they have been talking with certain players when they have announced that they have successfully completed a deal--as in the case of Schobel, Parrish, etc. So, it is also possible that the Bills have been and are talking with Evans' agent, but that neither side is talking about the fact that they are in negotiations and we won't know that they have been until a contract extension has been finalized. So, while I have the suspicion that I have just outlined, personally, I hope that is also the case with Evans.

[BidsJr]

This is a guy who should be writing for the Bills orgainization.

I always read what you have to say all the way through. (Unlike a few others)

Appreciate your logic as always.

[Midwesternbillsfan]

With a lot of the current Bills' discussion centering around a new contract for Evans and with seemingly more Bills' fans more than a little trepidatious at letting our best (and currently only) real valuable receiver leave next March via FA, I wonder if anyone has either changed their mind or had it strengthened that tagging Lee (if he has '08 similar to '06'; if an extension isn't reached sooner) would be a smart approach.