Tag Watch: Saints and Chiefs Could Offer Options for the Bears
A couple of potential free agents that might be interesting to the Bears have already gotten their franchise tags. The Philadelphia Eagles dropped $9.4 million in DeSean Jackson’s lap as their franchise players while the Atlanta Falcons tagged cornerback Brent Grimes. A lot more tags, including the Bears’ own Matt Forte, are expected to be issued before Monday’s deadline. A few interesting things to keep an eye on from teams with multiple tag candidates after the jump.
There are a couple of teams that come to mind which have multiple players that they’re considering to tag. Since each team can only use the tag once, there will be some players likely to hit the free agent market.
Consider the New Orleans Saints, who are in a game of chicken with Drew Brees and also have guard Carl Nicks and wide receiver Marques Colston entering free agency. If the Saints can’t come to terms with Brees, they’ll have to tag him, which would put Nicks and Colston on the open market. That would be a nice package deal for the Bears. Colston and Nicks would immediately improve two areas of need for the Bears.
Another team with a tag crunch is the Kansas City Chiefs. There have been numerous reports that Dwayne Bowe will get the franchise tag from KC. You know what that means? Cornerback Brandon Carr would hit the market. The Bears have a need for a young corner to pair with Peanut Tillman and eventually succeed the veteran corner. Carr is a big physical corner who could help the Bears chase around the big receivers who litter the NFC North.
We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground all weekend for more franchise tag info, especially for Forte.