Tagging Begins

[RichH55]

They're going sign him if--and many think it's a BIG if--he's willing to sign at a reasonable number. If they don't get him signed, I think they at least try to tag and trade him. I don't know that the Bears would consider just tagging him and keeping him until you consider what a make or break year 2017 is for Fox and Pace.

I don't know why he wouldn't want every dollar out there. You get discounts when you have leverage, not when the player both plays out his original contract AND a year under the tag.

What I don't get ...if they give him a long term deal now, why didn't they just do it last year?

Because they wanted to see if he could stay healthy. He did...but then he went and got himself suspended.

Yes. But if that rather important factoid (missed 4 games, was still banged up as to his practice schedule too IIRC) doesn't change the front office's analysis.....Then they had the wrong decision chart going last year.

Point being: If you are in favor of bringing him back (either Tag OR Long Term deal) you made a bad decision last year

It wasn't like he went out there played all 16 and blew the roof off the joint, fair?

If any of that were even remotely true, no player who has ever been tagged would have ever been signed by his own team the year after being tagged. Your logic doesn't make sense.

What part exactly?

My logic is actually why, in part, FA is so thin this year is that teams ARE making this calculation and either resigning the player to a long term deal or trading him (Jaime Collins, Chandler Jones) or using the Tag on the "cheaper" positions

And yes tagging him last year if you were going to resign him this year to a long term deal........Flat out is bad financially (really disputable)

Last years decision is also a sunk cost. You sign/tag Jeffery now based entirely on the view going forward with those facts. That won't change the analysis that last years decision to tag and not resign (or resign him even earlier than that) was a poor decision ultimately.

And we take the facts as is. Bears (by all reports) were willing to resign him to something in the 12 million a year range and Jeffery wanted Dez money (14 million a year, 32 "initially" guarantee, but really 45 million guaranteed)

Even assuming there would have been no meeting in the middle *(I think there would have been, as that is usually how those things go)....that isn't a lot of savings. So it isn't the case where player X wants 25 million a year and the team thinks 15-16 (Cousins?)

Over time...if a team franchises a player (ESPECIALLY if they tag him multiple times) and then resign him to a longer term deal...the Team has done a poor job (This was the case on Walter Jones and Orlando Pace back in the day and even true of Julian Peterson)

The Franchise tag acted as a one year Guaranteed deal for a lot of cap room *(Dez Bryant's "Cap Hit" in Year 1? 7 Million)

So by waiting a year you give more money, AND basically add an additional year of guarantees to Jeffery's time here (if you resign him long term) ...Double Whammy

[RichH55]

And if the point of the Tag was for him to "prove himself"

He had a solid enough year WITH a 4 game suspension too. I.E. Not exactly blowing the roof off the joint.

So if that was within the acceptable realm of possibilities that will still lead to a long term contract (which is still going to be very expensive as Alshon has most of the leverage in this awful FA crop)

Why didn't you just resign him last year? It was a poor decision.

It's a sunk cost (again) and should have nothing to do with the decision to keep him going forward.....but a bad decision nonetheless.

[GSH]

lets just pay the man. If he came from another team and hit FA, id still want the bears to sign him.