Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland is “getting a sense” that the Browns are leaning towards using their franchise tag on impending free agent SS T.J. Ward.
Ward, who along with the Bills S Jairus Byrd, are both in line to secure huge contracts on the open market, unless their respective teams elect to use their franchise tags to prevent them from reaching free agency.
However, Mary Kay Cabot mentioned on Saturday that she does not believe the Browns will use the franchise tag on Ward based on the fact that it will cost them a large guaranteed salary to do so.
Instead, Cabot believes the Browns could try to work out a long-term deal in the weeks leading up to free agency or try to match a deal he receives on the open market.
Cleveland could always elect to use their franchise tag on Pro Bowl C Alex Mack, but that too comes with a huge price.
Ward is a hard hitting safety that excelled against the run and was named as a second team All-Pro safety while also making the Pro Bowl this season. He has previously expressed interest in remaining in Cleveland, so we’ll have to see how the Browns handle this situation in the next few weeks.
We have Ward listed as the No. 3 player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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I’m not horribly upset w/ the decision but does that mean we’re tying up Mack with a butt load of $$$?! I wouldn’t be happy with that. We need to blow up that OL and get players in there that’ll run block! Mack is the leader on the OL and he doesn’t even give good run blocking! We can’t keep doing the same stuff on Offense because we’ll just keep getting the same results. After the franchising Ward, the draft and FA there’s no doubt in my mind we’ll have a top 10 Defense. Offense is the only side of the ball that needs a major overhaul! A RB is useless if the line doesn’t run block! On a side note, please leave Cousins in Washington. Hoyer’s our QB, deal with it Shanahan.