Why I think we should franchise Jake Long

[aquabob]

One thing I'm really confused about, why the hell is the franchise tag cost $15 for tackle? Seems outrageous for the position. I know it's the top 5 and all, but can't imagine it being so high. Is there something I'm missing?

[aquabob]

He's unrestricted. Restricted agents are those that have only 3 years or less season accrued in the NFL. Jake Long was drafted in 2008 so he has 5 years in the league already making him unrestricted.

The issue with tagging Jake Long is that his agent will say he's making $15 million so the negotiations for his client will START at $15 million per season on a long term contract....that's from the words of Drew Rosenhaus, who does not represent Jake Long but said that's how he approaches a team when one of his clients get tagged.

That is a very flawed logic for an agent to use though. That 15m salary is just for one year and does not guarantee anything beyond that. If the player gets hurt, he's completely screwed. So a 1 year contract SHOULD pay a lot more for that one year than a regular multi-year contract would pay per year. It shifts all the risk to the player.

[aquabob]

if they let him go they better find talent to replace him on a functioning NFL level. Martin and john jerry are not NFL starters at this point so if you let long walk and dont sign or draft a legit starter you're just creating another hole.

I agree. I think the OL would suck without long. The OL was atrocious against NE.

[aquabob]

Because he's not even worth 8 million per year. He gave up 7 sacks in 12 games last year and a ton more hurries. You wanna ay him $8M?

If he keeps playing like last year, we absolutely need to let him go. But our OL was horrible without him. We're kind of screwed in that sense, hence why I think the 1 year franchise makes sense. We'd still have plenty of cap to sign a receiver like Jennings or Wallace. And if Long sucks it up again, we let him go and have the 15m freed up again to spend elsewhere next year. At least it buys us another year of not having created another hole, another year to find a replacement. This will free us up to spend our draft picks on playmakers.

[NY8123]

One thing I'm really confused about, why the hell is the franchise tag cost $15 for tackle? Seems outrageous for the position. I know it's the top 5 and all, but can't imagine it being so high. Is there something I'm missing?

I think and I may be mistaken but in Jake's case the franchise tag is worth 120% of his base due to the new CBA. The franchise tender for a tackle is 9.3m but in Long's case he gets 120% of his 2012 base which is 15.3m.

[aquabob]

The problem with giving jake $15M is twofold imo. First it affects the team’s ability to resign or acquire talent. Half that amount probably gets us a top free agent guard who you could argue could have a bigger impact on the OL's overall performance than transitioning from Long to Martin. 2nd that number isn’t too far off of Long's potential cap hit over the first two years of a long term deal. The Dolphins are reportedly offering him something in the $5M-$8M range. That is a fair number for the risk the team will take given his injury history.

I admittedly only watched the NE game on tape delay & since I already knew the dreadful outcome, I didn’t pay very close attention to the game. But my recollection is that Martin didn’t play all that poorly. I recall most of the pressure coming from the right side. Am I way off base on that?

Martin was embarressed in that game. Didn't look like he even belonged in the NFL. I like Martin, and think he'll turn into a good player one day, but I would be very nervous with him starting at LT next year.

---------- Post added at 02:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 PM ----------

I think and I may be mistaken but in Jake's case the franchise tag is worth 120% of his base due to the new CBA. The franchise tender for a tackle is 9.3m but in Long's case he gets 120% of his 2012 base which is 15.3m.

Too bad the rookie salary cap wasn't in place when we drafted him. franchising at 9.3m would be a no-brainer. 15m is a much more difficult decision.

[Roman529]

I cannot see us franchising Jake Long for one year, even it means paying him a one-time fee of $15 million for one year. Why keep him around?? I think Left tackles are hard to come by, but Jake Long is now ranked around the 25th best LT in the NFL. You don't pay the 25th best guy at his position $15 million a season. I think Lane Johnson, LT, Oklahoma, may end up being our first round pick. We can still get some quality wide receivers in round two along with signing a WR or two through free agency.

[fishbanger]

Maybe Long will sign a 2 year contract for 20M and guarantee 15M of it. that seems like a good compromise. Else he walks.