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Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network tweeted this morning that he expects the Tennessee Titans to place the franchise tag on Cortland Finnegan. Of course this has not been confirmed by anyone with the Titans, but if it is true, it is an interesting change of events from everything we have been hearing since the season ended. Most of the media guys here have said that Finnegan will hit the market.
I don't think it is a good idea to franchise Finnegan for a couple of reasons. The first is that he is not going to be happy about it. We saw what happened last season when he was "insulted" by an offer they made him. There is a good chance that we could be looking at another holdout this offseason.
The second is that he just isn't one of the top five corners in the NFL. He is a really good player, yes, but they would be paying him more than $10 million for this season. Everyone has been raving about the $30+ million of cap space the Titans have. Franchising Finnegan takes up 1/3 of that, and they still have to sign other guys and draft picks.
We will be keeping an eye on this as the day goes along.
[UPDATE]- This from Adam Schefter:
Titans will not place their franchise tag on cornerback Cortland Finnegan, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.