Saints Nation: Despite No CBA, Teams Protecting Themselves with a Franchise Tag

There’s been talk the past few days about the following players getting the franchise tag, despite the fact that no unrestricted free agent will be eligible for free agency this offseason until a new CBA is reached:

Logan Mankins, Patriots
Michael Vick, Eagles
Peyton Manning, Colts
Haloti Ngata, Ravens
Zach Miller, Raiders

Mankins if the only one that’s already officially franchised, but the rest could follow suit in short order. We should find out in the coming days if they do. Reports have surfaced that Vick’s tag may be placed today. All 5 of the players above are superstars that none of those teams want to lose, so it makes sense. If we ever get around to having an offseason, I will say this will be the biggest free agency period in NFL history. There are so many guys, really good players, that will be available. In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a list of Saints players scheduled to become free agents this offseason. 

All this franchise talk got me wondering: is there any chance a Saints player could receive a franchise tag this offseason?

In a word: no. I think there is virtually zero chance we’ll see a free agent Saint receive the franchise tag. Never say never, though, so I’ll rate the chances at about 0.1%. If you look at the list of all the guys available to the open market (assuming there is an open market), I think these guys are probably most valuable to the team:

Roman Harper, Lance Moore, Jermon Bushrod, Remi Ayodele, Pierre Thomas.

Of those five players, I’m sure the Saints would ideally like to see them all come back. The Saints are always money conscience, though, and it will have to be at the right price. The franchise tag automatically offers the player tagged a one year contract at the average salary of the top 5 players at his position. Consider this: if Manning/Vick get tagged, they automatically get a one year deal at $20 million. $20 million!! I just can’t see any of those Saints players getting paid that hansomely,  even granted their positions would average out to less than that of quarterbacks, because frankly it would be stupid to do so when they can be had at much less.