Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoover
You tag him. Keep him for another year.
That allows you a couple of things
1. Helps us deal with Houston's monster contract. I think you keep both Houston and Ford for 2019, then you can save 17.5 Million on the cap by cutting Houston after 2019.
2. If Ford delivers in 2019 then we have a difficult decision to make. Personally, I think we draft OLBs and don't hand out massive contracts like this to defensive players because the modern NFL doesn't reward defensive play.
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If you tag Ford you have to commit to letting him walk after 2019. Because if he has another strong year, the agent's going to peg his year 1 outlay as the 'inflated' franchise figure of about $22 million. To offer him that as a signing bonus would require a 3-4 year deal to make it palatable from a cap standpoint.
He'll be 28 next year so you'd be paying for 29-32 at a higher cost and for a year more past his prime than you want to be. Essentially you'd find yourself in the Eric Berry situation.
Once the Chiefs tagged Berry, they needed to commit to letting him walk the following year. They should have done the same with Houston - tag him once and let him walk. The Steelers should've done the same thing with Bell.
There has NEVER been as situation that has worked out well for a team that tagged a player one year then finally broke down and gave him the LTC the next season. And it's obvious that it shouldn't; it's too expensive because the baseline has shifted up and for a player that's another year older.
This is simple - if you're the Chiefs and you want him for 3-4 years after this one, you get him signed long-term and you get him signed now. If you tag him, you either trade him or you commit to having him for one more year and then letting him walk. Or you just let him walk outright now if you're not confident that he'll earn the $18 million or so that the tag will pay him next season.
Personally I'm of the mind that they should give him his 4 year deal - it's the only way the math checks out. The tag just isn't an obvious benefit anymore and it most assuredly doesn't do anything to help the cap for '19.