Four Down Territory: Poppin’ Tags
First Down
Sunday afternoon was a prime example of why the franchise tag should be eliminated. Dak suffered a compound fracture and dislocated his ankle that will take 4-6 months to recover.
While we’re here; please stop sharing videos and pictures of Dak’s ankle. We get it, it was really bad.
His season is over, obviously.
Injuries happen, it’s just part of the game. The worst part of Dak’s ankle snapping in half is his contract situation. This summer the Cowboys hit him with the franchise tag. For those new to football, the franchise tag is a team’s way to suck the youth out of a player without committing to the long term. Once they’re on the downhill slope the franchise can cut them loose while freeing up cap space.
It shouldn’t exist.
The downside for the franchise is that they play a lot of money up front to tag players, especially quarterbacks. This year Dak is set to make $31.4 million; not bad, right?
To compare; Carson Wentz, the guy Dak is ususally comapred to, makes an average of $32 million for the next five years. That excludes the $16 million signing bonus he received.
The Cowboys, specifically Jerruh Jones, refusal to committ to Dak long term has created an extremely uncomfortable situation for the organization, team, and their quarterback.
Over the summer the Cowboys intially offered Dak a five year, $175 million contract. That sounds great but Dak wanted four years instead of five, like the other quarterbacks in the league. That lead to an impasse and he was forced to sign the tag. Jerry also tried to convince Dak that “the star” is worth a lot and that Dak should give the team a discount.
That’s foolish but some people need a real world example. Well…
Also, WE DON’T GIVE BILLIONAIRES DISCOUNTS!
The Cowboys, though, swear that this injury changes nothing.
The translation: “We’re moving on the moment we can.”
But this message isn’t a surprise. Teams that believe they have a franchise quarterback will pay whatever amount to keep them. They don’t let them sniff free agency let alone franchise tag them.
See Kirk Cousins.
This situation will unfold one of these three ways.
- The Cowboys keep their word and give Dak a long term contract this offseason.
- The Cowboys tag Dak again. He plays under the franchise tag again and tries to renegotiate in 2022. Let the record show that Dak will be pushing thirty and his numbers will probably be down since he’s coming back from injury.
- The Cowboys let him walk this offseason and go in another direction.
As terrible as this story is it’s a lesson on why athletes need to get every dime possible while they have the leverage. Teams cut players leaving them high and dry all the time and call it part of doing business.
Well this is the other side of that coin.
Second Down
For the first time since 2010 we have football on a Tuesday night. The game wasn’t rescheduled due to weather extremes, disaster, or anything of the sort. It was rescheduled because the Titans were negligent in the middle of a pandemic.
After a COVID outbreak among players and team personnel the Titans closed their facility. Instead of quarantining like they were supposed to some of the players decided to practice at a high school field.
Other teams are taking note and aren’t happy.
We briefly talked about this issue in college football. A league’s testing is only as strong as its weakest team.
If every team in the AFC South is following the protocols and the Titans aren’t then it’s not worth much, is it?
It’s time for the league to make an example out of Tennessee. Especially after the arrogance they displayed after beating the Bills Tuesday night.
To live in stupidity must be a fascinating universe.
Third Down
Trouble in New Orleans?
Listen, fights happen. Was it so bad that he deserved to miss a game?
Well, there’s more.
The Saints are currently 2-2 and sitting in second place in the NFC South. With the expanded playoff format it’s very easy to see the Saints in the postseason as division champs or wild card participants.
That still shouldn’t mask what’s really going on.
The biggest issue starts with number 9.
A more, in-depth look at Brees‘ arm strength, or lack of it, can be found here.
The man is 43 years old, what more can we expect?
Brees’ arm strength has lead Payton and the Saints offensive staff to give Taysom Hill more snaps. Yes, the gadget guy they gave $16 million this offseason. Sure, he scored the game-tying touchdown against the Chargers but whenever he’s on the field it’s clear to see that he messes up the flow of the offense.
PFF sums it up perfectly.
The Saints’ Super Bowl window is closed. When you have a quarterback that can’t throw over ten yards and your answer is a gadget guy then you aren’t getting really far. I don’t care how great Kamara and Thomas are, the QB is still the engine of the offense.
Fourth Down
PICK TIME!!
Last week ya boy went 9-5 (New England and Denver has been postponed to 10/18). That brings the season record to 49-24-1.
Picks are in red
Sunday Games
Houston @ Tennessee
Baltimore @ Philadelphia
Atlanta @ Minnesota
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh
Cincinatti @ Indianappolis
Detroit @ Jacksonville
Chicago @ Carolina
Washington @ New York Giants
Denver @ New England
New York Jets @ Miami
Green Bay @ Tampa Bay
Sunday Night Football
Los Angeles Rams @ San Francisco
Monday Night Football
Kansas City @ Buffalo
Arizona @ Dallas
Extra Points
Alex Smith‘s return to action this week was awesome…until you realize he’s going against Aaron Donald. Luckily, Donald gave us an update on Alex’s leg.
Khalil Mack tries to tackle Derrick Henry; who wins?
LOL it just isn’t fair, man.
WR1 in Philly. First ballot HOF. Pay this man NOW!
A reminder that Nuk is the best WR in the game.
We have a winner!
You gotta feel bad for A.J. Green. Wasted his prime with the Bengals and won’t be around when the team is actually good. He’s right. Time to bounce.
Don’t forget to check out GoingFor2.com for daily fantasy advice and more heat.
@ me madads14
As always, thanks for reading.
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