Franchising Question

I watched the Dunta interview where he talked about wanting to retire in Houston and what not, and I was very impressed. He seemed very genuine and up front about what was concerning him and I have a lot of respect for that. He wasn't dancing around the issue and avoiding speaking his mind, but at the same time he was respecting the tough situation that management is in.

They're not going to want to sign him to a multi-year deal just yet because of how severe his injury was, obviously. Look at Cadillac Williams of the Bucs - he was in Dunta's rehab group and seems to have reinjured his knee in the same way he had last year. Injuries such as Dunta's are so complicated and unpredictable, it would be foolish to try and lock him up long term if he might not make it past training camp next year.

What are the rules with the Franchise option? I know Dunta said he wouldn't be happy with it understandably, but how does it work? Would it be possible to say, franchise Dunta for just the first 4-6 games of the season? If his knee tolerated all the stress of getting to top shape and going through camp and a few more regular season games without incident, could we remove the tag and resign him long term at that point?

I think this is really the best possible situation for everyone involved. This way, if something does go wrong and Dunta's injury does flair up and slow him down or stop him altogether, he will still be paid the 10 or so million that the top 5 corner salary requires. If his injury is behind him and he really is back to 100%, the team could sign him up mid-season like he would deserve and give him his long contract.

Like I said I don't know all the specifics of contracts in the NFL but this seemed like a decent idea to me. Regardless, I hope Dunta is better and gets his contract - he deserves it as much as anyone in the league after all he came back from.

Franchise tag means he gets the average salary of the top 10 paid for his position for that one year.

Can't franchise his for games. It's a yearly tag.

There are other parts to the rule; like if the sign the player to long term contract by a certain point they lose the tag for the length of that contract. Something like that.

I'm kind of against franchising dunta. The tag for cb's last year was $9,465,000... that's guaranteed money for 1 year. The only thing is that even if Dunta isn't a top 5 CB... he may still have that VALUE to our team. There's no getting around that we're a better team with him... we may lose more than his ability if he goes somewhere else. I think it's a high price to pay for Dunta coming off injury. He played well when he came back, but he wasn't exceptional.

If we do franchise him, I hope we use the 'non-exclusive' tag. this allows him to still negotiate with other teams. If they offer more than the "tag" and he signs an offer sheet, we will have the option of (i) matching that amount or (ii) if we don't, the other team has to give us two 1st round draft picks as compensation. On top of that, the tag would be the 2008 tag instead of the 2009 tag (which may or may not be higher).

As much as I love Dunta and think he's a HUGE part of the passion we have on the Defense, having an extra 1st round pick in back to back years would be pretty darn enticing.

Ole Miss Texan said:

I'm kind of against franchising dunta. The tag for cb's last year was $9,465,000... that's guaranteed money for 1 year. The only thing is that even if Dunta isn't a top 5 CB... he may still have that VALUE to our team. There's no getting around that we're a better team with him... we may lose more than his ability if he goes somewhere else. I think it's a high price to pay for Dunta coming off injury. He played well when he came back, but he wasn't exceptional.

If we do franchise him, I hope we use the 'non-exclusive' tag. this allows him to still negotiate with other teams. If they offer more than the "tag" and he signs an offer sheet, we will have the option of (i) matching that amount or (ii) if we don't, the other team has to give us two 1st round draft picks as compensation. On top of that, the tag would be the 2008 tag instead of the 2009 tag (which may or may not be higher).

As much as I love Dunta and think he's a HUGE part of the passion we have on the Defense, having an extra 1st round pick in back to back years would be pretty darn enticing.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm against franchising him as well. I think that we make our move based on free agency. If we can get someone like the Oakland CB, then Dunta isn't as much of a priority if he is not willing to sign for a reasonable amount given his injury. If we don't sign a big time CB, then we pretty much have to sign Dunta to a good 3 year deal.

I heard through the grapevine (someone I consider a reliable source) that he wants to test out FA and seek employment elsewhere. I guess we'll see

The biggest problem I have with him leaving is that I don't think hell get that good of a contract bc of his injury. If he was able to sign a huge deal, at least we'd get a 3rd round pick as compensation.

No you cannot franchise someone for part of a season.

The franchise is the average of the top 5 paid players or 20% over the last year's salary whichever is greater. Transition is top 10 players.

They will have no ideological problem signing him to a multi-year deal--it just won't be top tier if they are smart.

Love Dunta, but if he wants or gets offered franchise/top 5 type money let him walk.

gtexan02 said:

I heard through the grapevine (someone I consider a reliable source) that he wants to test out FA and seek employment elsewhere. I guess we'll see

The biggest problem I have with him leaving is that I don't think hell get that good of a contract bc of his injury. If he was able to sign a huge deal, at least we'd get a 3rd round pick as compensation.

Click to expand...

From who?!

gtexan02 said:

I heard through the grapevine (someone I consider a reliable source) that he wants to test out FA and seek employment elsewhere. I guess we'll see

The biggest problem I have with him leaving is that I don't think hell get that good of a contract bc of his injury. If he was able to sign a huge deal, at least we'd get a 3rd round pick as compensation.

Click to expand...

if he hits the market not much we can do and if he doesnt want to play here he might not play up to his skill level.

too many question marks regarding his return. how well will he play? franchising him is the smartest way to handle it. you have a year to figure it out. if his play isn't up to snuff, you eat 10 million and sign him to what he's worth in 2010 or you let him go.

I'm not franchising Robinson. He's a good player, but not of that level. So I put him in a ranking and work off that ccontract. I think robinsonis between 10-15 corner in the league. So that puts him at about 7m per. That 6yrs 36m with 20m in bonus money. 3m per bonus, 3m per salary. If he doesn't take it, transition tag him.

Cassel isn't that caliber QB either and the smartest FO in the NFL didn't hesitate to tie up a good chunk of change for security. It's the smartest way to go when you have a situation that needs more time to work itself out.

I would also think that our new coordinator (whoever it may be) and the new DB coach would want some input on the players we retain. We must wait until we've got our coaches hired before we make a decision on Dunta. I believe that seems to be really logical and realistic. I want Dunta to retire a Houston Texan and I believe it'll be easier said than done. It's a matter if he fits into what our new defensive scheme whatever it may be.

Dunno but that's what I think needs to be done before we consider resigning/signing/drafting/franchising any defensive player at this time.

NitroHonda said:

I would also think that our new coordinator (whoever it may be) and the new DB coach would want some input on the players we retain. We must wait until we've got our coaches hired before we make a decision on Dunta. I believe that seems to be really logical and realistic. I want Dunta to retire a Houston Texan and I believe it'll be easier said than done. It's a matter if he fits into what our new defensive scheme whatever it may be.

Dunno but that's what I think needs to be done before we consider resigning/signing/drafting/franchising any defensive player at this time.

Click to expand...

I doubt Kubiak and Rick Smith who have seen these players for three years are going to give the new guys a whole lot of say in who to get rid of. Now for getting new players, I am sure they will listen more.

See my earlier thread about this topic keeping him or letting him go. Whole lot of opinions on this player.

I love Dunta the player but he is not worth that kind of loot especially with only playing a half season coming back from that injury. I would be shocked if the Texans franchised him.