Heavyweight ball-sack carrier Jeff Ireland will not take the franchise tag lightly. PBP's blog reports that 5 of last year's key starters will hit the free agency market once the 4pm deadline passes in less than an hour. I'm not too happy about this. Vernon Carey started 60 fuckin' games for us and we can't get that big boy signed to a goddamn contract? Slap him with the franchise tag! Yeremiah Bell is one bad muthafucka and we can't get that dude signed quickly enough in a market devoid of ample strong safety talent? Franchise da muthafucka! Goody played solid as the year wore down and we know how much better the defensive backfield got once Renaldo Hill was back there again. Ok, I wouldn't franchise those dudes but dammit, we're running out of options.
Look, none of those guys is a Ronnie Lott, a Ty Law (in his prime) or even a Dan Dierdorf (the player) but - shitballs and Cadillacs - that's what we've got. Here's to hoping we can get Carey, Muthafucka and Goody signed with the quickness. I know: Carey was not great in run-blocking last year, Yeremiah has one career INT and Goody only turned it on towards the end of the year. But we need all the depth we can muster. Channing Crowder can do all the taxidermy work for my new apartment for all I care. Renaldo Hill? Meh.
