Does anyone know what blocking scheme we'll actually be running next year? Obviously Kubiak comes from a team that tended to use zone-blocking on stretch plays with a cut-block to seal off the back side, but Sherman has always been emphatically a gap/man-blocking guy. Benton I have no idea about. Point being, Lepsis would only be a good fit if we were going to try and implement the Denver/Alex Gibbs type approach, and I'm not sure we are. Lepsis is seriously undersized for a tackle in a conventional scheme.
As for Bentley, he has made it quite clear he wants out of New Orleans, and as has been stated the franchise tag is far too expensive to use on an interior lineman. However, as the premier OL on the free agent market, there is going to be a bidding war for his services and whoever gets him will end up over-paying. Someone like Justin Hartwig would almost certainly be better value-for-cap-hit. We need quality depth more than we do one star player.