Deadline To Franchise Players Is This Thursday

The Minnesota Vikings became the ninth team to use their franchise tag, designating linebacker Chad Greenway on Monday. The deadline for teams to use the franchise tag on players is this Thursday. The Steelers and Ravens have already designated their players, linebacker LaMarr Woodley and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata respectively.

The Cincinnati Bengals have options, if they wanted to use them. Johnathan Joseph and Cedric Benson will be free agents once a resolved Collective Bargaining Agreement leads to free agency. Opposing arguments make decent points. Tagging Johnathan Joseph gives the team added time and less pressure to get a long-term deal done. On the other hand, if they can't complete a deal, the team would have to guarantee roughly $14 million for 2011 -- for a guy with durability issues, it doesn't make a confident investment. And roughly $8 million for a running back that struggled holding onto the football with 3.5 yard/rush average is a bit much.

Regardless, the Bengals aren't expected to use the franchise tag this year.