Seahawks Tag Josh Brown

The Seattle Seahawks have placed the franchise tag on their 2006 MVP, Josh Brown. The 4th-year kicker connected on 4 game-winning kicks in 2006, and has 6 such kicks in the last two seasons. Unless a long-term is reached, Brown will earn $2.078 million dollars in 2007, which is a significant raise over the $721,600 he played for a year ago.

As a Seahawks fan, I'm happy that Brown is going to be kicking for Seattle next year, but I'm disappointed that they were forced to use the franchise tag to ensure that. I think the market for free agent kickers was too well established for both sides to not agree on a long-term extension.

As Clare Farnsworth points out in today's Seattle Post Intelligencer, Arizona Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers signed a 4-year, $6.5M contract last year. Buffalo Bills kicker Rian Lindell recently signed a 5-year, $9.1M contract extension. The highest contract ever awarded to a kicker came less than a year ago, when the Indianapolis Colts signed future Hall of Famer Adam Vinatieri to a 5-year, $12M contract that included a reported $3M in guaranteed money.

Given the increase in the salary cap, and the back-to-back seasons Brown has turned in, I would think that a contract somewhere in between what Lindell and Vinatieri got would be appropriate. Brown is a better kicker than Lindell, but he doesn't have the pedigree of Vinatieri.

The reason I'm not happy that a long-term deal wasn't reached with Brown is that it now means that safety Ken Hamlin and tight end Jerramy Stevens will be targeted names in a mediocre free agent class. In a year where some NFL teams have over $30M to spend in free agency, Seattle could potentially lose both players next month. Had a long-term deal been reached with Brown, Seattle could've retained at least one of them with a franchise tag, as the cost of using the tag for a tight end or safety isn't too high.

NFL News

"Clock Killin" Corey Dillon is hanging up the spikes, and has asked the New England Patriots to release him. New England will save $4.4M on the cap by granting his request, but is Laurence Maroney ready to shoulder the load in New England? He certainly hit the rookie wall in 2006, but that's common among rookie running backs, particularly those asked to multi-task (Maroney returned kicks, as well).

Sergeant Winslow had the dreaded microfracture surgery performed on his right knee. Is there any team more snake-bitten than the Cleveland Browns?

The Oakland Raiders have cut QB Aaron Brooks, and with Marques Tuiasosopo heading towards free agency, Andrew Walter is the only QB on the roster. Until, that is, they draft either JaMarcus Russell or Brady Quinn in April.

If you haven't already harassed your cable provider into carrying the NFL Network, you better hurry up or else you'll miss the NFLN's 27 hours worth of live coverage from the 2007 Scouting Combine. The "action" gets started on Saturday at 11am ET, with workouts by tight ends, kickers and offensive lineman.