Ravens, Suggs Reach Franchise Tag Settlement

by Rexx on May 14, 2008 9:26 AM EDT Comment 3 comments

Whew, thank god they were able to negotiate this one to a happy conclusion! T-Sizzle was franchised by the Ravens as a linebacker for the 2008 season, thereby paying a tad over $8.0 million, the average of the top five paid linebackers in the league. His side argued that he should be franchised as a defensive end, as he put his hand on the ground more often than not. Why the argument? The franchise tag for d-linemen was around $8.8 million, over three quarters of a million more than the linebacker tag.

In the end, it probably won't matter, as the Ravens will sign Suggs to a long term contract, hopefully even before the season starts. However, it's good to know they could reach a compromise and now Suggs can sleep well at night knowing that he can put food on his table, at least for the next year!

Whew!

0 recs | Comment 3 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I wonder how the new tag is defined

they can’t really have picked out the top 5 DE/OLBs and averaged their salaries, as that would have given a lower number than the LB number. Maybe they just split the difference between the tags. The Franchise tag system could use some tweaking. Interior lineman should be tagged differently than tackles, for one.

by math_geek on May 15, 2008 12:31 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Compromise

It seems that they just picked a number in the middle of the two options. My guess is that it won’t truly matter in the long run as the Ravens specifically let Adalius Thomas go because they had a younger Suggs to spend their cap space on and will eventually sign him to a long term contract. This just takes a few hundred thousand more from our cap space this season, at least for now. Thanks.

Rexx

by Rexx on May 15, 2008 8:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Trendsetting

It is interesting to see how this plays out, because other high profile players that play in a similar position as Suggs (Shawne Merriman springs to mind) will probably take advantage of this hybrid position franchise tag. That is, unless the new labor agreement gets rid of the franchise system and makes this all moot.

by ello on May 17, 2008 5:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs