The Patriots have used the franchise tag five times under Bill Belichick, and in only one of those cases did the player tagged stay with the team for more than one season. The four players who got away were a safety (Tebucky Jones), a kicker (Adam Vinatieri), a cornerback (Asante Samuel), and a quarterback (Matt Cassel).

At this juncture in the NFL timeline, they may not want to let a nose tackle get away. With more and more teams switching to the 3-4 defense, an agile, run-stuffing behemoth in the middle of a defense like Vince Wilfork is becoming more valuable and more difficult to find.

Late this season, Mark Gaughan at the Buffalo News looked at this issue, and Belichick acknowledged the growing scarcity of players who fit the 3-4 scheme.

“Absolutely — I think that's one thing that's really come to note for us,” Belichick said. “When I came here in 2000, it was basically us and the Steelers [playing the 3-4]. And the competition for players — the nose tackles, the outside linebackers, some of the two-gap defensive linemen — it wasn't very much.

“Players like Mike Vrabel, who didn't get a chance to play very much in Pittsburgh because of the players that were ahead of him, signed here in a big part because of the opportunity that he had to play outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense.”

Maybe the Patriots see Myron Pryor as a player who can put on some weight and become a dominant player in the middle of a 3-4. Maybe they think Ron Brace’s abysmal rookie season was a mirage and in the coming seasons he will prove why the Patriots used a second-round choice on him. Maybe they feel like they can find another elite nose tackle in the draft or in free agency by 2011.

But there are currently 13 teams who play the 3-4, and all of them would love to secure a nose tackle like Wilfork. (Just one example is the Dolphins, who may be losing Jason Ferguson to retirement.) By securing a long-term deal for Wilfork – which is still very much in play even if the Patriots use the franchise tag on him – they will have filled a vital need that more and more teams want.