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With a game of tag set to really heat up in the next few days, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones has said that Miles Austin will not be hit with the franchise tag to ensure he's a Cowboy in 2010.Jerry Jones has said that Austin won't be going anywhere, so it's safe to assume that they will use the highest tender on their newest No. 1 receiver.
"We don't need to use the franchise tag," Jones said. "How many times have (you) seen another team give up a one and a three?"
Well, If I'm not mistaken, Jerry gave up a one, a three, and a six for the guy who Austin has uprooted and overtaken as the best receiver on the team. Austin did a whole lot more to garner a first and third round pick than Roy Williams did, and in this depleted market, it would surprise me at all to see a team give up the picks and sign Austin away.
He's a restricted free agent, so a team could certainly do that.
Let's also not forget the timeline here. If February 25th (the deadline to use the franchise tag) comes and goes and the Cowboys have not tagged Austin, but a new CBA is agreed upon and put in place in the eight days leading up to the deadline for a new agreement to take place (March 5th), Austin would then become an unrestricted free agent.
It's certainly a goofy situation to deal with, but all 32 teams have this problems, not just the Cowboys. If they ignore this potential scenario, they're setting themselves up to looks like world-class suckers.
They're going to save about $6 million by not tagging Austin and instead going the route that restricted free agency allows, but is that $6 million worth it to them to take the chance that Austin is playing elsewhere in 2010?
