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RockRam
2017 Franchise Tag Values
POSITION TENDER AMOUNT
Quarterback $21,268,000
Running back $12,120,000
Wide receiver $15,682,000
Tight end $9,780,000
Offensive line $14,271,000
Defensive end $16,934,000
Defensive tackle $13,387,000
Linebacker $14,550,000
Cornerback $14,212,000
Safety $10,896,000
Kicker/punter $4,835,000
And you are mistaking one for the other. It;s easy enough to add up the way Donald attracts attention at the game plan level, how many hurries and hits he has in spite of that, and so on. In fact it would be hard to miss that stuff. So Donald led the entire league in pressures in spite of being gameplanned for and in spite of missing 2 games. That too is just fact. All you need from there is to do simple football logic. Does a player like that help a team. Obviously yes. That's why the Rams were 4th in the league in sack percentage, for example, while also fielding outside rushers who got at best in one case 8.5 sacks. You can't do that unless someone is forcing attention on himself on the inside---and yet also making plays in spite of that attention.
It also would be hard to deny something like this---that only 3 DTs in all of NFL history were pro bowlers in each of their first 4 seasons. They were Olsen, Greene, and Donald. Of those 3 only 1 was a first-team all-pro in 3 of his first 4 seasons. This indicates the kind of respect he gets from his peers. And you can learn about that earned respect a thousand other ways too, along with the reasons given for it.
And a list of tag numbers is completely irrelevant to how the market works. The market for 2nd contracts goes up every year. In contrast, tag numbers are based on averages from prior years. One does one thing, the other does something different. That's why tag amounts are not relevant to discussions of 2nd contract amounts. For example Tru's contract got him more than the tag amount. Why? Because one is always a year behind the other.
Plus there's the fact that no DT of Donald's caliber has been in the league for a while. It's reasonable (in fact inevitable) to assume that when he is up for a 2nd contract, that gets factored into the player's market value.
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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2018 11:38AM by zn.