As I look at many mock drafts on the Internet, I find myself shaking my head. It's way too early to predict which team will draft what. Is it fun to predict? Yes. But in reality, you have to wait until after free agency to see what each team really needs. If the Detroit Lions somehow make a trade for Patriots QB Matt Cassel, do you think they will still draft a QB with the No. 1 pick? No. So the key to predicting who your team will draft is predicting who they will get/lose in free agency and how that changes their roster. I will show you what I'm talking about.
Now I have no inside info on the Bengals. This is just my opinion. A reader challenged me the other day to put my GM hat on, so I will take a fun stab at it.
Franchise Tag. Who will get it? There is a lot of talk about who will get it. Teams have to use the franchise tag as the last line of defense. Meaning, the team and agent will negotiate a new contract and if they can't agree to a deal, then there is a possibility that the tag will be used on that player. Sometimes teams will negotiate with the threat of using the tag, in hopes of making the player and agent accepting a lower deal. So back to my question, who would I franchise? It would have to be the player that I could least afford to lose and I am not willing to pay what he is demanding. And it has to be a player that I know will be in demand on the open market, so resigning him once free agency starts is going to be tough. Because once other teams become involved, nobody will know who or what they are bidding against. So taking all of that into account, I would have to say the the Bengals would use the franchise tag on............... K Shayne Graham.
Why Shayne you ask? Simple. Franchising Shayne would cost the team 2.5 Million dollars. Also, Shayne is the player that the team will find the hardest time replacing. Franchising TJ would cost 10 million dollars and tagging Cedric Benson would cost about 7 million. But Andre Caldwell can replace TJ and you have the 6th pick in the draft so I wouldn't tag him. Cedric will want to paid like a starting RB and if he is not, he won't accept a deal before free agency starts because he would rather take the franchise tag(7 mill) then take a lesser deal with more years on it. The Bengals could and should be working on a deal for Shayne as we speak, but if it doesn't get done before Feb 27th, then he would be the guy who has to get it. Keep in mind, this negotiation started before last season. Shayne has said on record that he wanted to get a deal done before the season started and that didn't happen so I'm guessing that talks are still ongoing. I know one thing, Shayne has great numbers and he will want to be either the top or amongst the top paid kickers in the NFL. So paying one one your best players 2.5 million dollars for one season with the franchise tag is a bargain. Plus it gives you time to still negotiate after free agency starts. And it keeps money free to address other needs on the team.
So that's my poke at the GM thing.
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