A look at the price to franchise

From the article http://profootball.scout.com/2/834635.html :

And in reference to if/who we franchise (Saturday or Hayden);

Offensive Linemen

Franchise
$8.451m

Transition
$7.744m

Cornerback

Franchise
$9.957m

Transition
$8.374m

I guess they could try to get sneaky and list Hayden as a safety.

Safety

Franchise
$6.342m

Transition
$5.130m

Anyway, the article explains the difference and options involved in tagging someone.  I'm really just trying to get the 75 words in right now. 

This is how someone becomes a non-exclusive franchise tagged player (which I think would be a good option for Saturday, unless he thinks he's going to make more than this somewhere else)

"If the player is offered a minimum of the average of the top five salaries of last season at his position, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, he becomes a “non-exclusive” franchise player and can negotiate with other team. His old team can match a new team's offer, or receive two first-round draft choices if it decides not to match."

The difference being that the average of the top five salaries is based off the previous season as opposed to the upcoming one.

Saturday's current salary  $5,184,669 would end up being $6,221,602 at 120%.  I think that the "non-exclusive" tag would probably be the best one to try to put on him since it ends up $2,229,398 less against our cap.  It's also $1,522,398 less than the "transition" tag.  And placing the "non-exclusive" tag as opposed to the "transition" tag allows us to recoup 2 first round draft picks for compensation if the Colts decide not to match.  If the Colts don't match under a transition tag, the other team doesn't owe anything as compensation. 

Definitely seems doable to be able to sign Hayden and tag Saturday.  I'll make sure to spend some significant time looking into this.  As of now, it seems as if we could save ~ 6.5 million simply by spreading Dallas' roster bonus over the remaining time of his contract as opposed to putting it all on next year.  And there's no way Hagler makes $1,417,000 next year.  I think it's likely he's gone.  I think Peyton might not restructure his contract and instead might completely redo it.  Since the last two years are voided, I'm sure this is something they're thinking of since they'll have to completely redo it later anyway.  There's probably about 1-2 million from working on that.  And, as we all know, we're more than likely going to be saving between 3-5 by reducing Marvin's 9 mil base salary for 09.  

So why did I go through all this?  Well, I believe this has serious implecations regarding the draft.  Considering Keiaho reached the point where he's now a RFA, we'll have to offer him a tender at least to either keep him or get a pick for him.  The tender amounts this year are:

Low tender - right of first refusal & original draft pick - $1.01 million

Middle tender - right of first refusal & 2nd round pick - $1.545 million

High tender - right of first refusal & 1st round pick - $2.198 million

Highest tender - right of first refusal & 1st and 3rd round picks - $2.792 million

Since Keiaho was initially drafted in the 3rd round, I could see the Colts putting the 1.01 mil tender on him and seeing if they get the pick back.  They MIGHT go up to 1.545 to get a 2nd round pick, but I don't think they'll jump the 2.198-2.792 unless they actually think he's worth giving the salary to.  And I'm not sold yet.  So we basically have to let Hagler go so that we can at least offer a tender to Keiaho.  And then if Keiaho leaves as well, we save 2,053,000.  But it'd also mean we would be forced to take at least one LB in the first couple rounds.  It'd also mean we'd either have to resign Brackett or sell our souls and cross our fingers that one of the young LBs (Session or Wheeler) has a breakout year and we can lean on them at Mike. 

The proverbial wrench has been thrown into our LBing core with this Keiaho situation.  I could actually see someone shelling out 2-4 million for him, although the 4 might be a bit high, so we might be banking on some serious prospects coming to fruition. 

So I could see us freeing up around 10 million without hurting too many peoples feelings or cleaning house.  I do see our LB situation as shaky at this point.  The free agency period will be taking up alot of my interest in the upcoming months.  DT might HAVE to be a 2nd round pick if things don't go well.  And we might be trying to pull off moving up the draft to make sure we can secure a legit 1st round LB considering they'll probably be forced into significant playing time from the start.

Anyway, I hope I got my 75 words in.  Like I said, I'll keep looking into this.  Add anything you find interesting or substantial.