Here are some dates to keep in mind around the NFL.
February 20: Franchise Tag
Teams can apply a franchise tag on one of their free agents, preventing that player from signing with a new team. That player will receive the average of the top-five salaries at his position, all of which will be guaranteed. There are various levels of franchising -- exclusive and non-exclusive -- that could allow another team to acquire that player but usually at such a cost (losing draft selections) that teams generally avoid.
February 22-28: NFL Combine
The annual NFL Combine in Indianapolis will kickoff on Wednesday, February 22, showcasing this year's top prospects. Coverage will be live on NFL Network and NFL.com.
March 5: Deadline to Apply The Franchise Tag
If teams fail to use their franchise tag on a player by this date, then that player will be available for free agency.
March 13: Free Agency Begins At 4 p.m.
At 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 13, the new league year begins and free agency kicks off, allowing unrestricted free agents to sign with any team they wish. If a team tenders a restricted free agent, then the level of that tender dictates the compensation for the original team if another team signs that player to an offer. Exclusive-rights free agents will be unable to sign with a new team no matter what if the original team tenders that player a deal.
March 25-28: NFL Owner's Meeting
Pretty self-explanatory.
March 30-31: Super Regional Combine
Much like the National Combine in late February, the Super Regional Combine invites players that attended NFL Regional Combines, giving prospects that did not take part during the National Combine in Indianapolis an opportunity to conduct drills in front of all 32 teams.
April 26-28: 2012 NFL Draft
The first round will start on April 26, with the second and third rounds taking place on April 27 and the final four rounds on April 28.
Late July: Training Camp Begins
The Cincinnati Bengals will kickoff the 2012 Training Camp at Paul Brown Stadium.
September 6: Regular Season Kicks Off
The New York Giants will launch the new season, hosting a yet-to-be-determined opponent. Some speculate that it'll be the New Orleans Saints.
0 recs | 39 comments
so.. who gets the tag?
I don’t think we have a FA that’s worth top 5 money. Possibly Nugent, as that wouldn’t be a lot of money anyway. I think that’s where they’ll go.
Benson & Caldwell are obvious cuts (we hope), Simpson is too risky, Scaife and Lee are barely worth bottom 5 money.
On the o-line we’ve got obvious cuts in Roland & Livings and possibly McGlynn, a guy who looks like he could easily be the starter but is far too inexperienced for top 5 money in Collins, and a very old guy hoping to come back from a nasty injury in Bobbie Williams. I don’t see any of them getting tagged.
On the d-line we’ve got Fanene, Rucker, and Sims. I see Sims as being crucial to our run defense, and this season proved it, but he’s got a worrisome injury history and top 5 DL money is a lot. Fanene and Rucker are situational guys. Last year Fanene was a beast, and late this year Rucker made a lot of plays, but neither is elite.
At LB we’ve got Brandon Johnson and Manny Lawson. Both are good. Johnson is great for a backup, could start for quite a few teams. Lawson was pretty good, not great. Neither is worth top 5 money.
Our FA DBs are Jennings, Jones, Nelson, and Wilson. None of which are very good. Nelson is the best of the bunch, and probably the best FA along with Collins, but a top 5 safety? No way.
The restricted FAs are FB Pressley, LB Skuta, and LS Harris. I like Pressley, but he’s not worth a tag. Top 5 FB money is probably the NFL equivalent of half a cheeseburger, but still I don’t see a lot of teams throwing money at him to lure him away. Skuta is a good backup, that’s it. Harris is a long snapper.. enough said.
I think the only FA that makes sense to tag, if we tag anyone at all, is Nuge.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
nugent or nelson for the tag
palewook - February 9, 2012
I agree, if we tag anyone. I wouldn't tag any of them.
I would made solid fair offers and if they don’t want to be here I don’t want them here. It is as simple as that.
JUNGLEJOHN - February 9, 2012
we really cant afford to take a step back on defense
especially at the safety spot. I think losing nelson will be a bigger loss than what most people would think.
AMAS85 - February 9, 2012
+1
I would tag nelson given the opportunity. I think we can resign nugent without the tag.
Alexneyer - February 9, 2012
yeah we cant let our ONLY good safety go
We cant count on FA or the draft…if we have guys here that can play….keep em
ticalcaldwell - February 9, 2012
+1
keithster - February 9, 2012
nelson easily gets the tag
id rather slightly over pay him this year and work out a long term contract, than trying to bring in someone that isn’t use to our system. I think Reggie was the glue to the defense last year, he would be a bigger lose than joseph for sure.
AMAS85 - February 9, 2012
+1
At this time he would be a huge lose. We don’t have another FS on the roster do we? Wilson but how good is he? With better corner play Nelson can rome around a little more and possibly have a better season this yr than last. Both safety spots are hard to fill. It’s not a highly paid position but a good one is hard to come by. Look at the draft this yr for example Barron is the best one and he could go in the 2nd then there’s a big drop off in talent after him. Next yrs S draft class looks to be deep so maybe the tag would be good and draft one next yr although I’d like to see him locked up long term and work on finding Crockers replacement. Like I said 1 S is hard to come by let alone 2.
Bigcatdaddy - February 9, 2012 via Android app
^This
You tag Nelson because without him the secondary has ZERO playmakers. He might not be a top 5 safety, but his value is greater to the Bengals because the cupboard is empty after him at the position. He might not be worth top 5 money, but it’s only one year and gives them a chance to sign him long-term.
Nuge won’t be hard to resign, so there’s no real need to slap the tag on him.
Animal_Like_Football - February 9, 2012
Nelson because of need and cost....
The Van Buren Boys - February 9, 2012
I disagree completely
Nelson is better than the rest of our DBs with Hall out, but we shouldn’t pay him a huge amount just because we have worse options. We should resign him for a decent contract and pick up better DBs with all the money we have this offseason. Pay for real DBs that will give the D the back end it needs, then there’s less pressure on our O.
With all the playmakers we have on offense and on the D-line, our window for a championship is the next 3 years. We have to make the most of what we have in Dalton, Green, Gresh, Dunlap, Atkins, etc before we start losing those guys because they’re too expensive. To win in the immediate future we need a G, a RB, a S, and a CB. With quality guys in those spots we are ready for a playoff run. Paying through the nose for mediocre guys like Nelson because he’s better than the dregs we have otherwise is a plan for failure.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
and he has nowhere near the impact Joseph had
Joseph didn’t intercept balls much, but he was a shutdown corner. He was often right where the ball was going and in position for an easy pick, but he had hands of stone. He seems to have worked on that a lot, as he was better in year 2 with us than his rookie season, and even better now in Houston, but he was always a shutdown corner.
Nelson is pretty good, but doesn’t have anywhere near the impact the top safeties have. I don’t think anyone is going to go into a bidding war for him.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
It's not about the money
The Bengals have plenty of cap room, even if they go out and actually drop some cash on a couple free agents. Coyle just landed in Miami, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the dolphins wanted to make a push for him so there will be at least some demand for him if they don’t re-sign him.
Animal_Like_Football - February 9, 2012
No it isn't about the money. I just want guys who want to be here.
Like I said make him a solid competitive offer and sign him straight up to a longer term deal. Just give him top five money and bring him back. Tagging just builds amiomisty and forces players to do what they may not want to do. I am all for signing Nelson – but not tagging him. We need long term solutions – not one year patch ups. We have had a belly full of that here.
JUNGLEJOHN - February 10, 2012
the fact that our defense got better from last year kind proves your point wrong
if joseph was that big of an impact we would have been worse on defense, right?
Plus don’t you think crocker was a liability to nelson?
Just think if we had playmakers at FS (which we will if we resign nelson) and at SS, think how much of a bigger impact it would have to our defense than a CB. With the way our dline has played, we just need techniqually sound CBs to get the job done in our defense. Our dline isn’t going to give the opposing Qbs that much time to throw.
If you look at all the chances we could of had at the SS spot to get INTs or just TACKLES, it would have changed the land scape of a lot of our games.
don’t get me wrong, i would have loved to keep joseph and in hind sight im sure the bengals wished they had too. They didn’t know they were going to not have ochocinco or palmer on their payroll this coming year. Plus they had those other players in mind that they were going to resign.
AMAS85 - February 9, 2012
it really doesn't
Last year we had an offense that couldn’t convert a third down to save it’s life and had a tremendous amount of turnovers. No defense will have good numbers with that offense. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the 2010 defense was better than the 2009 defense. And it’s obvious. The difference is that the offense in 2009 had a ridiculously high number of long drives. That makes any D look good.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
i agree about the 3 downs and turn overs
but at the same time, we lost both of our all pro CBs last year or most of last year, and the defense didn’t give. We definatly took a hit when Sims got hurt in the run game. Something had to hold the D together. And I think thats where Nelson comes in. His coverage ability has vastly improved from the Jags and his ability to support the run D is pretty damn good.
with the way our d is forming, we don’t really need all pro CBs, we need playmakers at the safety postions and keep our Dline young and fresh. The Dline gives hardly any time to the opposing QB to pick us apart, so we need to make up the difference at the SS spot.
Like I keep implying, if we had replaced crocker this year with a real playmaker. Our D would have been in the top 5 easily. I couldn’t tell you how many times crocker missed a big tackle or an easy INT. Upgrade the SS spot and give more freedom to Nelson and I think you will see how good he really is!
AMAS85 - February 9, 2012
I like Nelson, I want to keep him, I just don't want to tag him
And his run support wasn’t that great. It was decent, but we could do a lot better. I don’t want Nelson to go to another team, I just want much better guys around him. I think if you tag him that makes it less likely we sign guys better than him to fill the other roles on the D.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
Agree
Just like you said we have a window for success with the guys we have. So that makes keeping Nelson around for at least one more yr that more important. I’m all for getting better but letting him go would just make things worse because we don’t have anyone to replace him at that level of play anyway. FS are hard to find. The S position is kind of like the FB position there just isn’t that many good ones left and kids in college want to play CB not S. Nelson had better # than most top tier FS in the league last season and if we upgrade our CB’s his play could be better. Paying threw the nose is a little much because if we paid him top 5 S money that’s still not alot. It’s just not a highly paid skill position yet it should be because the rarity of good players. If we can’t get better than lets at least keep what we have and not get worse.
Bigcatdaddy - February 9, 2012 via Android app
I'm all for keeping Nelson
but he’s a mediocre player. He stands out on our DB unit because it’s so inconsistent, but we should be aiming higher than him. If we give him a huge contract, can we bring in a much better DB without paying them more?
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
let's not forget
there are some really highly-paid safeties out there. Franchising Nelson gives him a HUGE contract. Eric Weddle, Eric Berry, Antrel Rolle, they’re all getting a TON of money.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
I don't know why you keep bringing up money like the Bengals are on a budget
The franchise tag is a one year deal and the Bengals have the lowest projected budget in the NFL. They’ve got plenty of cap room this year, and then next year it he won’t be on the books. Money is a non-issue.
Animal_Like_Football - February 9, 2012
Money isn't a non-issue, though
It’s not about how much we pay Nelson, it’s about how much more we have to pay the other FA DBs we sign. If we tag Nelson and he’s making $7 or 8 million, are we going to be able to sign a goodSS for anything less? What about FA CBs? It has a domino effect.
As for him being worht $5mil, no way. He’s a pretty decent safety, by no means one of the top 10 in the NFL, much less top 5.
I want to keep him, I never said not to re-sign him, I just don’t think he’s worth the franchise tag.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
what would that be? around the 7 million range? if he is franchised
i think nelson at this point is easily worth 5 million a year. so giving him a 7 million deal isn’t that big of deal. This will give us time to sign him to a long term deal or pick up a FS next year, which I hear has a very deep safty class.
AMAS85 - February 9, 2012
I think we would have better luck drafting our own CBs for the future.
If you look at last year, we kept only 4 DBs on the roster and I can see the bengals doing it again this coming year. We have Hall and Ghee, but Hall may miss part of the season. So it looks like we will at least draft a higher pick DB and sign another solid FA, whether its one of our own (jones or jennings).
But I couldn’t agree with you more about upgrading the OG , RB, S (SS specifically) and CB spots to win in the immediate future. But my point was Nelson was the back end to keep everything together. I would be willing to bet if we didn’t have reggie at FS, we wouldn’t have been in the top half ranked defenses. Your not going to find many FS with the ability that Nelson has.
AMAS85 - February 9, 2012
Nelson for the tag, in my opinion... :)
pemci - February 9, 2012
Copy article
paste into word; print; hang on wall by calendar
Oregonbengalsfan - February 9, 2012
I would agree with Nugent
The price of a top 5 kicker may not be that high. I would like to keep Nelson but paying him as a top 5 safety would be too steep, unless they tag him just to keep other teams away. Then work out a multi year contract thats cheaper.
EPK1979 - February 9, 2012 via mobile
i believe reggie is a top 5 safety.
I think his only down side maybe coverage but he really only gotten beat a couple times last year, so its really not a problem. Its pretty hard to find someone like him that can bring the wood (minus all the BS calls).
AMAS85 - February 9, 2012
My thing against Nugent...
Let me say, I like Mike Nugent, but he missed quite a few FG’s toward the end of the season. Was it fatigue? Was it the snap? The Hold? Was it him not judging the wind, etc.. I don’t know, but I am glad that th resigned Thomas Weber for some competition, but I don’t want to go through another Shayne Graham like decline…
pemci - February 9, 2012
Kickers aren't worth tagging
I see Nugent signing at a reasonable price. The guys good but not great. I’m a big fan but he was killing me at the end of the season missing fg’s. He said it was the wind in the first few but the last one was in a dome. He needs to catch some more cat scrach fever lol. Has a kicker ever been tagged before?
Bigcatdaddy - February 9, 2012 via Android app
Yes...
Belicheck did it numberous times with Adam Vinateri, and we did it to Shayne Graham his last season with us….
pemci - February 9, 2012
Now that I think about it
It may be the way to go with K’s. They probably want long term contracts and teams probably don’t want to offer that because once a kicker looses his mojo it’s gone. So one yr at a time is best. The 2 you listed are perfect examples.
Bigcatdaddy - February 9, 2012 via Android app
Thats what my thinking was.
His misses at the end of the season had me scratching my head also. Hopefully he can get that straighten out. Im not opposed to putting it on Nelson to keep other teams away. They would have until training camp to work out a long term deal.
EPK1979 - February 9, 2012 via mobile
You have to admit
He set himself up for failure, just like Graham did before him. Both of those guys were automatic, setting records for consecutive FGs without a miss, then at the end of the season just 2 misses or so and suddenly we all want them gone. There are a lot of worse kickers in the league than Nugent, and top 5 kicker money is less than your typical backup makes at any other spot.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
aint that the nature of kicking in the nfl
coaches and teams live by the “what have you done for me lately” motto when it comes to kickers. i’d rather keep one over the long haul if he’s mostly accurate than flip out and replace him for a couple of bad games.
the graham thing was sad, wasn’t his fault, all the snapping issues and problems got in his head. kickers are to the nfl what relievers are to baseball. once they fear the homerun ball and can’t throw strikes, pretty much the end of a relievers career. once a kicker fears the choke and can’t clutch kick, he’s done in the nfl.
palewook - February 9, 2012
I agree completely
Graham was in a nightmare situation. Not since Garo Yepreian (sp?) tried to pass has a kicker been is such a hellish nightmare. All the horrible snaps really took their toll. Graham was awesome up until that, but to hear people on here talk you’d think he shanked every kick.
indesignkat - February 9, 2012
Plus if they sign Nuge to a reasonable deal (top 10 kicker money), he should be a lock in Cincy.
Animal_Like_Football - February 9, 2012
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