Franchise Tag An Option For Stevie Johnson, Says Buddy Nix

It made no sense. The franchise tag is the biggest weapon the Bills had to persuade Stevie to sign before Free Agency.

It’s possible the media may be stirring the pot. Putting the ball in OBD’s court so as not to lose Stevie at any cost. It’s also possible that Buddy Nix is lying here.

…that any reporter who says that a sports team is going to do something without naming the source within the organization is fabricating the story. Teams really should start taking a harder line against reporters that publish rumors that they themselves create as fact.

We’re not all begging for Stevie to be tagged. I’m sure all us fans would like to see Stevie re-sign willingly to a fair deal. But, if Stevie’s representation refuses to agree to terms, some of us (myself included) believe that using the franchise tag to prevent him from testing the market is a good idea. So it costs us more than we’d like in 2012. They can then get right to work on extending him to a multiyear contract for more reasonable money before free agency in 2013.

If he is asking for 10 or 11 a season… Not saying he is, but the tag can definitely be used as leverage by a team. Players want the big signing bonus and financial security. It can be more effectively used on running backs that wear out faster than wr’s, but the prospect of Stevie blowing a knee out and missing out on a big pay day next year will have some influence.

You gotta figure the leverage involved with the tag. So lets say the Bills are holding out two options for SJ -

A 5 yr 35 million contract with 15 mill guaranteed (I think that’s probably something in the ball park of the going rate)

In the other hand they have the franchise tag.

SJ has a choice – 5 yr with 15 mil in the pocket, with potential for 35 mil or he can take the tag, making 9.5 this year and hope to have a career season that will raise either maintain or raise his market value for when he hits free agency next year.

Here is the problem – Football is hazardous to your health, and past performance does not guarantee future results. What if he gets, say, a high ankle sprain in week 1, and limps to 800 yards (he’s not doing juking to 1000 yards on a bum ankle, aside from all the other knocks on his game, like lack of elite speed). Now his market value is going to be less than what it is right now. Maybe then he can hope for a 20 mil 4 yr contract with 7.5 mil guaranteed.

I don’t know. Forced to choose, I’d have to think long and hard about the offer the Bills are putting on the table right now. Maybe SJ is more confident than I am.

There are thoughts that it actually works out in the team’s best interest in the long run, and they won’t be spending much more money at all. Also, as others have stated, it’s a negotiating tactic. If he gets hurt this year without a long term deal, sucks for him.

The first article you quoted does not say that Stevie is asking for $8 Million. They just said that $8 Million is what Sidney Rice got. I think it is their conjecture that Stevie wants something similar, but I don’t see any proof supporting the truthfulness of that conjecture.

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/billboard/2012/02/bills-have-budget-target-on-stevie.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fbuffalonews%2Fbillboard+%28BillBoard%29

Always remember to cite your sources Rumblers ;)

This is their first sit down to negoiate about the contract. We all know the nfl takes their time with these things. To expect them to come out of at most a couple hours of negotiations with a contract is not realistic imo. The nfl is a 11th hour orginization by nature, think back to last years offseason for proof.

No other big name FA WRs are signed yet. There is no rush to sign Johnson right away. It will get done soon.

What’s that all about? Doesn’t seem very productive to getting closer to a deal. Very strange, IMO. I’m with you, Poz.

This is why I have never understood people jumping all over the FO and Nix or Stevie when nothing has been decided yet.

why? it’s a blog. We can speculate all we want.

I’ve looked like an ass in the past and i’ll look like one in the future. Won’t stop me from having fun and talking about speculation or whatever.

I don’t imagine Boew will ever be available. The Chiefs have a lot of cap room, they have no WR without him, and he’s really the only player of theirs worthy of drawing the franchise tag. I’d be surprised if Bowe hit the open market.

I’ve almost got it down. I’ll fill everyone in once I do.

I have no idea what Ralph would have to do with these negotiations. He’s probably sleeping on his couch in Detroit.