I am sick at this mismanagement. You don't let an asset walk away with out getting anything for him, this is a business, and they are about to let one of the team's best assets become a free agent without any avenue of recompense. :confused:

I agree with your concern... but, the deadline hasn't passed yet. So, save your outrage for tomorrow afternoon. Also, let's not forget how poor Houston sports media coverage is. He could have been franchised on Monday but the fat man can only focus on one thing at a time.

Yeah, I'm not taking McClane's report as proof of anything. I still have confidence that this team will either sign Dunta or franchise him.

Brass can't be too happy with the Colts right now, though.

they are't going to franchise him until the last second so they can try to get a deal worked out, so i wouldnt go getting mad just yet

I think this is true. From McClain's article in today's chron.com:
That last sentence is most telling. It is not that unusual for the Texans to withhold comment from the chron, but for an agent and player to keep shut really hurts the reporter's ability to get anything notable.

The first two paragraphs are about the most he has mentioned the f-tag without shoving it aside as if it weren't a possibility.

Honestly, I love me some Dunta... but even I'm nervous about giving him $20+ million guaranteed. I would have tagged him myself a week ago and twice on Sunday.

Desperation breed innovation. So, here goes:

I'm going to take the fact that Dunta and his agent refuse to comment about the ongoing negotiations as a sign that a deal is pretty close. Otherwise, players and agents generally make some public declarations in order to put some pressure on the organization or do so simply out of frustration. While Dunta is certainly a quality person and employee, silence hasn't exactly been his M.O. when he sees things he doesn't like.

If they don't tag D-Rob today it probably means the Texans don't think he's got it anymore and they're very pessimistic about him returning to his previous form. He's popular among teammates & fans, but 10M is alot of money for one year to just confirm what they may already have concluded about a player which they feel is only a shadow of his former self ?

As of 10:37 the Texans have slapped Dunta with the Franchise tag, per the Chronicle.

chron.com

I hope that they can negotiate a long term deal. This also means that I won't have to scrap my Steel Blue #23 jersey.

Good to hear it. While people can disagree whether he's worth this much, the Texans have the cap room and I think Dunta is worth overpaying for 1 year to see if he can bounce back.

Hallejuh. My outrage was wasted apparently.

The key here is that they have exclusive right to negotiate with him. Now you know he will be a Texan this season, and he knows they want him back.

the negative can be Dunta getting upset about the tag. If the team gets aggressive in signing him to a long term deal, i can see no foul. I still think they get a multi year deal done before camp.

To clarify, the Texans used the non-exclusive tag on Dunta. At least this is what McClain reported... a scenario he thought wouldn't happen all along. Whoops.

The non-exclusive part means he can negotiate with other teams. Should one sign him to an offer sheet, the Texans have the right to match OR receive 2 first rounders in return.

The Texans went thru a similar scenaio with the Rams and Orlando Pace a number of years ago. Pace basically took what the Texans were planning to offer him, and the Rams agreed to offer those terms to him.

No team is going to want to give up two 1sts for Dunta, but his rights could be traded for something less. I expect though that the Texans would want more in a trade than what any other team would be willing to give up for him, so I don't think he's going anywhere this year.

So... the worry now becomes 'when will Dunta report?' since his health in 2009 is of vital importance to him.

Isn't that about what Robinson has been asking for, around 23 Mill or so gauranteed?

That is what was reported. Problem is that I am sure Dunta feels that he should be paid like a top 5 corner, not "just a guy."

Shouldn't that read:
"The non-exclusive part means he can negotiate with other teams. Should one sign him to an offer sheet, the Texans have the right to match or receive 2 first rounders in return. "

Yeah, fixed it, thanks. I never proofread my stuff enough! :p

Well, the Raiders just gave Asomugha a 3 yr. $45 million dollar deal with $28.3 million guaranteed. I'm thinking Al's not getting a Christmas card from McNair this year.

Wow that granteed money is a big number, but this guy is supposedly the
leagues top corner at this time.
But here's my question: where do the Raiders keep getting this cap from ?
Last year they draft the what #3, #4 overall and year before that they had the #1 overall. It's like a bottomless pit.

Well, this was predictable. Dunta says he feels betrayed.

Ooh, predictible again!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6269456.html

Other quotes from the chron.com article:

For starters, it'd be kind of a "d*ck move" (anyone else watch the Venture Brothers?) by Rick Smith to not be so forthcoming. You'd think he'd mention the possibility since it might have motivated Dunta and his agent to find a middle ground before today.

On the other hand, how f'ing naive must Dunta and his agent be to believe that there would be no shot a being tagged? I mean, come on. Seriously.

Give the man his Gamble money. Hayden got a huge contract and Hayden can't hold Dunta's jock. wtf.

Maybe Dunta was not naive, but was hopeful that McNair was.



By the way, can we now go after Sean Jones? It looks like the Browns are not going to franchise him, so let's start bidding.

Dude's real tied in with the team, isn't he? He gets all the scoops.

The Chronicle is a joke. ESPN broke the illegal practices story (weren't there any reporters at those practices?) and the McGrady story. The Chronicle reporters were busy finger painting and eating glue.

I suspect that Drob misunderstood (maybe intentionally) if Smith said something like "I don't think we will be using the F-tag", meaning "I expect to get a contract done". If he thought he would just be able to hit UFA with nothing holding him back, then both he and his agent were clueless and I sincerely doubt that is the case.

One thing pointed out at DGDB&D is that Dunta said that Smith told his agent they wouldn't use the F-Tag. Besides the fact that agents are generally less trustworthy than Lawyers, there's definite chance for misunderstanding. Idon't know why RD and his agent would be so shocked, but I would look at it as proof of my value...that can be used at the negotiating table. If Smith really did mislead them , then that aint right. No question about it. I still feel like something gets done though, possibly before the season.

Exactly! DRob is getting his info from the agent, not from the horses mouth. This could also be the reason there was no contract signage. The agent was holding out thinking they could negotiate somewhere else.

I know players hate the franchise tag, and to be told by your agent that the team was not going to do it no matter what and then it happens is sure to make you upset. But talking about not showing up until the season starts is bad form to.

I think this is showing up elsewhere, but Rick Smith's side is coming out today:

Smith also disputed the report about Robinson learning of the tag from the media. ...which is a slap to the AP writer that covers the Texans, Kristie Rieken.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/...-s-charge.html

I can't really criticize Rick Smith for that "lie". First of all, it sounds like he was simply communicating his intent to sign Dunta to a long term contract. Second, he didn't gain any edge... so, he wasn't being deceptive. If Dunta had some leverage and Rick Smith asked him to give the leverage up and in return, RS would promise not to franchise him... then, he did franchise him... That would be deceptive and clearly wrong. It appears that all that happened here is that RS communicated his intent not to franchise him and then RS realized he needed to do it... Not a big deal, IMO... Though, it probably added to Dunta's disappointment level when it happened.

Dunta is going to get paid more than Julius Peppers this season, so he should have a Coke and a smile.

$10M is a slap in the face I'll take all week.

How do figure? Peppers is getting $16.7 million, how is Dunta getting more?

It must have been a typo. Along my "ticker" on the NFL network they were showing Franchise players and their salaries. The Had Dunta at $9,957,000 and I think Peppers was $8,991,00 or something along those lines. It just hit me that Peppers was getting screwed if he was getting less than Robinson.

Now that you bring it up, I think I have also heard that Peppers would be getting a raise because he was franchised before.

So Dunta is highest paid Texan, injured, and he's talking of not reporting. changes my view of him and his leadership abilities quite a bite. hope he cools down and comes to his senses.

They tried to compare Dunta with Gamble, who just resigned with $23M guaranteed, 6year contract for about $53M. Dunta turned it down after having been only about 90% last year. I may be wrong but I'm beginning to think he just wants out of here.

Smith said he wouldn't tag him earlier, but when the FA deadline was staring us in the face and Dunta refused to sign an offer on a long term, the team simply had to protect itself.

Good job to Rick Smith!

If Dunter wants to leave them make another team give us something for him. Had we not slapped him w/the franchise tag after he had turned down the team offer, another team would've gotten him for cheaper and we would've received nothing...as in the Capers years.

Now watch us pick a CB with our first pick. Want to play games D-gone? Want to wait until the season starts to re-negotiate? Here's the team's priority...

"Smith said he'd let things cool down as the team deals with things that have to be addressed sooner."