Report: Colts Will Use Franchise Tag On Robert Mathis

There have been conflicting reports recently regarding the intensity of negotiations between free agent Robert Mathis and the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz played "reporter" last week and said talks between both sides were "warming up considerably." However, this past weekend, The Sports XChange's Len Pasquarelli essentially said that Kravitz's report was bunk.

Amid reports that negotiations between the Indianapolis Colts and pending unrestricted free agent Robert Mathis have "warmed up considerably," this dose of cold reality: the talks couldn't even be characterized as tepid as of Thursday night, because there hadn't been any negotiations, substantive or otherwise, to that point, The Sports Xchange has learned.

Today, we get this Tweet from ESPN's Adam Schefter:

Colts trying to sign DE Robert Mathis to a new deal but if they can't, they told him they will use franchise tag on him by today's deadline.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 5, 2012

Schefter's tweet seem to make Pasquarelli's report more accurate than Kravitz's.

The positive here is that the Colts intend to re-sign Mathis, which is what we all gathered after we listened to Chuck Pagano gush over him and Dwight Freeney at the Scouting Combine two weeks ago.

The franchise tag deadline is today at 4:00pm ET.