Bryant May Be The Wrong Guy To Tag
February 17th, 2009
Pat Kirwan of NFL.com would not franchise Bucs free agent wide receiver Antonio Bryant.
The deadline to get deals done or franchise players is quicly approaching. Bucs fans are waiting anxiously to see if Mark Dominik signs wide receiver Antonio Bryant to a contract, or slaps the franchise tag on him.
Not everyone is convinced Bryant should get a franchise tag. Pat Kirwan of NFL.com is one of those critics. In fact, Kirwan thinks another Bucs player should be hit with the franchise tag.
Everyone says the team should tag wide receiver Antonio Bryant. Not so fast. The Bucs need to sign tackle Donald Penn first and then talk about Bryant. If Penn gets locked up, I would talk about a transition tag for Bryant. He had a great year in 2008, but he has a history that suggests some risk, and I’m not sure the market for him is so great. Thanks to former general manager Bruce Allen, the Bucs have lots of cap space and could match any offer that Bryant would receive on the open market. I suspect the other 31 teams will paint a different picture of Bryant’s true value.
Interesting that Kirwan would put Bryant under a transition tag and not a franchise tag. Joe’s OK with that. Whatever it takes to get Bryant to sign on the dotted line.
February 17th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Joe,
Please don’t tell me that you’re biting into fallacy of slapping the franchise tag on Donald Penn! Penn has been fighting to keep the OT spot for the last 2 years. He’s done an acceptable job but a franchise player! Sure he’s due a salary increase from 2008 $450,000 but the cost of a franchise label on a O-Lineman is 8.45 Million. No freakin way is Penn worth that amount of money. Let his test free agency and match whatever others are willing to pay but no way is Penn worth a franchise label.
With regard to Bryant not getting the franchise label – the Bucs better be careful on that account. A franchise label for Bryant would cost the Bucs 9.88 million versus 8.39 million for the transition label which is what I would recommend. Why? With the transition label you save 1.5 million and see if the production in 2008 was for real or what. That extra money can then be used to entice TJ Houshmandazdeh to join the Bucs.
February 17th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
>>> Please don’t tell me that you’re biting into fallacy of slapping the franchise tag on Donald Penn! <<<
Don’t worry, Joe’s not that crazy.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
One thing I think the Buc should consider is Alex Boone OT (Ohio State). The kid was a starter and all Team Big 12. Ok he had a DUI but given his size and experience I would take a chance on Alex with a 4th or 5th round pick and use him to press Penn.
Remember that Sapp fell to the Bucs because of pot use and look how that turned out.
February 18th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Last thing we need is another OL
February 18th, 2009 at 11:26 am
tacher wrote “Last thing we need is another OL”
So please tell me WHO is the back up to Donald Penn?
Here’s an easy one – who is the back-up to Aaron Sears?
The Bucs don’t have enough DEPTH for their OL and Boone would be a great addition and press Penn for a starting position.