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What's next for the big man?

Print | Comments () Posted by Albert Breer February 22, 2010 04:21 PM

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So now that we know Vince Wilfork has been slapped with the non-exclusive franchise tag, I figured I'd cook up a quick Q&A primer for you guys on what it means. Ready? Let's go ...

Are there any important dates to watch?

Really, just one: July 15. The window for teams to sign franchised players to multi-year contracts ends at 4 p.m. that afternoon. The sides can add conditions/extra money to the one-year tender after that (i.e. a clause preventing the team from tagging the player again), but said contract cannot extend past the season at hand, and after that, the teams cannot re-negotiate until after that season ends.

Could another team still poach Vince?

Sure, but it'll cost them two first-round picks to do so. If some other team really wants him, they could sign him to an offer sheet, load it with a poison pill, and that would likely be that. But I can only remember a couple of times where that happened. In 1998, Sean Gilbert, then of the Redskins, signed an offer sheet with the Panthers and Washington collected the picks, rather than matching the money. In 2000, franchise-tagged Seattle receiver Joey Galloway was dealt off to Dallas for a pair of 1s. The more real threat here, for New England, is Wilfork is free to talk with other teams to measure his value, and other teams are free to poison the waters.

When does Wilfork have to report to the Patriots?

No time soon. Since he's not under contract, he doesn't have to show up for anything -- mandatory or otherwise -- and there's no risk of incurring fines. The only real checkpoint in this regard would be that he'd have to report before the team's 11th game, so he could play in the Patriots' final six games, to get an accrued season toward his pension. Gilbert actually sat out an entire season to make his point back in 1997.

What does history tell us?

Be prepared for rocky times ahead. There's an ebb-and-flow to these things (Player's OK with it, then he's not, then he is again ... and so on), and the negotiations can be rough. One thing to keep in mind is what we mentioned earlier -- In the five occasions the Patriots have used the tag during the Bill Belichick Era, only once has had the episode ended with a long-term deal and that one was with a kicker. Conversely, the Patriots called getting Wilfork signed their "top contractual priority". And that phrase isn't from some cloak-and-dagger digging. That's from the freakin' press release, meaning the club clearly wanted that out there.

Are there any other players to watch in regards to this?

Keep an eye on negotiations between the 49ers and Aubrayo Franklin (who will be franchised, absent a long-term deal), and the Steelers and Casey Hampton (who likely will be too). Both those guys are 3-4 nose tackles, and while neither brings the value Wilfork does at this point, if either of those guys can work out a contract, it could accelerate negotiations. And vice versa. Also, if the Patriots are to pursue a Julius Peppers or Karlos Dansby, and wind up shelling out big money for an outsider coming in, that could serious affect negotiations.