The Franchise Tag

If every starting corner back in the league was available, out of the 64 where would you rank Finnegan?

Finnegan is top 15 in the league IMO.

The game has evolved into a pass happy phase and the nickle role has developed into a full time job.

Finnegan has played both sides of the field for us as well as the Nickle. He's played behind a piss poor front 4 since Haynesworth left which make his job a lot harder. He's a great on one side of the field, OK on the other and great at Nickle. Versatile CB's are premium players

He's not a shut down corner but they're rare and over rated anyway. No one can shut down Megatron.

Is he worth getting paid as a top 5 CB? No.
Is he worth market value which will be about $9 mill per season? Yes. He's young and he's a locker room asset.

Griiffin isn't worth the tag but he's been OK when we've had a good front 4.

If we were to keep both Finny and Griffin we should go DT such as Poe in the first round. If we go FA and splash the cash to improve the D line we likely let Finny or Griffin go.

Either way I think we should keep Finny if it's at around 5 years $40-45 mill. We won't be able to replace him for less money and we have bigger needs in the first round.

 

Do we really have any evidence that Finnegan is a good/bad/indifferent presence in the locker room? Everyone is just assuming he's a leader because he's been around for a while. That's not how things always work. I remember the guy who walked out of training camp last year with no real reason. I'm not so sure Finnegan is the kind of leader many of you guys think he is.

 

I understand how and why trades happen. I just don't think there would be much of a market for Finnegan. Tagging and then trying to trade him carries risk. If no teams want to trade for him, then the Titans are stuck paying him a huge salary and his behavior could be very disruptive to the team.

 

If we franchise him, we are not keeping him long term. I think the plan is to now get Verner and McCourty ready to become the 2 corners for at least the next 4-5 years.

Cortland doesn't fit into those plans. The firing of Robertson does not suggest Cortland is staying past 2012 either. Munchak said Robertson wasn't a good teacher, Cortland doesn't need teaching, what he does is self motivated. Hiring a new secondary coach must be to benefit all the young players we have under contract.

 

Yes, but has anyone thought about a move back to Safety as he ages? Like Rod/Charles Woodson? He could be the Blaine Bishop that we have sorely lacked. I'm not saying this year, but clean up the DLine through the draft and maybe lightly with Free-Agency, let McCourty and Verner continue to develop along with Finny as the Corners, re-sign Babs for a couple years to bridge the gap and then BOOM! You've upgraded the DLine to generate more of a pass-rush, Verner and McCourty are known commodities and have the outsides locked down( or Campbell has the other outside with Verner in the nickel) and you can now move Finny to safety along with whatever youngster we now have back there as well?

I guess what I'm saying is bottom line, if I had to subtract anyone from this secondary, it's Griffin and not Finny. I can't deal with Griffin's sob stories, hurt feelings and mood swings, not to mention his girlish aggressiveness.

 

This team is not going to pay him 9 million a year and I do not think he is worth it. He is a top 20 cb in my opinion. He played well last year but 2 years ago he did not. I think his value is in the 5 to 6 million range. I do not think he is going to get a 5 yr 48 million dollar from any team but we will see.

 

Finnegan is a great story and he is a great person and competitor,but you cant sh.....t talk every game and every good player that you face in order to play good.Above all you just can't walk on all of your teammates in camp.Good luck to him and he will get paid well on the open market,but he is a personal foul waiting to happen here in Nashville He has a reputation.The only reason to franchise him is to trade him or just screw him out of a long term deal

 

Griffin will be franchised, IMO. There isn't a safety available that is better than him in FA. We'll see what he can do next year and if disappoints, we'll let him go and replace him next year via the draft or FA. The FS position is extremely important and shouldn't just be filled just because there is a vacant spot...we want to better ourselves.

It's the smartest thing to do. Finny wants big time money and will get it somewhere else. If we tagged Finny, we'd be dealing with locker room distractions, hold-outs and frankly, we'd be dealing with someone who isn't being a team player. He has every right to be paid and I wish him the best of luck...

 

I'm with you oneton, as bad as Griffin has been the last couple years we really can't afford to let him go without a capable replacement in place.

Especially, since it looks like Finnegan is as good as gone.