Franchised Players

So lost somewhere amongst all of the combine coverage, last Thursday 25th Feb was the deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag.  Only 6 teams decided to use this option, and here is the complete list.

Aubrayo Franklin   DT   49'ers
Olindo Mare          K     Seahawks
Ryan Pickett          DT   Packers
Jeff Read               K     Steelers
Richard Seymour   DE   Raiders
Vince Wilfork        DT   Patriots

As you can see from this list, defensive tackle is now being seen as a very important position.  All Franklin, Pickett and Wilfork play as the nose tackle, in a 3 - 4 defense.  The league has seen a number of teams change over to the 3 - 4 over the past few years.  The nose tackle is a very important position in the 3 - 4.  Without the nose tackle taking up blockers and space, the linebackers are unable to come through and make plays.  There are very few true nose tackles in the NFL, and this is why these teams are making sure they keep hold of them.  I just wonder how these choices may effect the true nose tackles that are coming into th NFL via the draft this year (i.e Terrence Cody - Alabama etc.)  Surely the draft stock of Cody and company must be rising.

Richard Seymour had a good season in Oakland last year, starting all 16 games, and having 47 tackles an 4 sacks.  The Raiders traded alot to bring Seymour in from the Pats last year, and don't want to lose him so soon.  The decisions I don't really understand is the franchised kickers??  Reed and Mare are undoubtedly 2 of the best kickers in the league.  Reed last year made 27 of 31, and Mare made 24 of 26.  But can you really justify paying these players $2.8 million??

So with franchise tags been handed out, the combine taking place, and free agency on the horizon, the NFL is very busy at the moment.  Come back tomorrow to take a look at a combine wrap-up.  I will take a look at players that I have mentioned before, wether they under or over performed and see if any players have now introduced theirselves at the combine.  If you want to get in touch email -nflgbview@googlemail.com, twitter - www.twitter.com/nflgbview, or search nflgbview on http://www.facebook.com/.

Franchise Tags???

So as you can see from the list of dates I put up yesterday, the first important date that is fast approaching is the deadline for the 'franchise tag' to be applied by the teams to a certain player (25th Feb). But what exactly are these 'Franchise tags'?? A franchise tag is what an NFL team can attach to one particular free agent. We will go into 'free agency' closer to the time of it beginning, but each team will have a certain amount of free agents that if no contract has been agreed by the start of free agency (5th March) they will enter into what is basically a bidding frenzy, with any interested team trying to offer them the best possible deal. The original clubs obviously do not want this happening with their better players, and may therefore decide to apply the 'franchise tag'. This effectivley takes that player off the free agent list, and attaches him to the club for another 12 months. The players do get a good deal out of this situation to. Their salary for that 12 months has to be an average of the top 5 saleries of players that play their position, or 120% of their previous years salary, which ever is greater. So as you can see it can be seen as a win, win situation for both parties. The players though do not like the fact that they can not tie up a long term deal, and this is why they sometimes complain about being 'franchised'.

I hope this has helped to sort out the confusing world of franchise tags. Tomorrow I will put up a list of players that are free agents this year, and you can decide who you would 'franchise' if you were the GM of your team.

If you have any questions or points about franchise tags, or any other NFL issue, please get in touch. Email - nflgbview@googlemail.com or leave a comment.