[superbowlbound]

I don't understand why there has been absolutely no talk of a conditional ban on using the franchise tag next year. Dunta obviously wants all-pro money. He turned down Chris Gamble's contract with his name on it, so he obviously thinks pretty highly of his worth on the field. Why the Texans wouldn't be willing to say, "fine. You start in the pro bowl, which would make you one of the top 4 corners in football, or 'worthy of the franchise tag', and we won't use it again." I don't see much of a downside here. Sure, the possibility exists that he'll achieve that incentive and walk leaving us with nothing, but I don't really see that happening. Eventually, especially as you become a really good team, you've got to let certain players go when their contract demands exceed their on-field value, for the good of the team. The way I see it, Dunta's not worthy of the franchise-tag now, nor will he be next season. I say give him a conditional promise, so that when he doesn't quite meet that standard, he has that extra motivation to get a deal done before the deadline to franchise.

He has to have learned something about the business side of the NFL through all of this. Get your butt into camp so you can get up to speed, and then go play for your new contract, be it here or somewhere else. You're not helping anyone at all by holding out right now.

Really it's that that's put such a sour taste in my mouth towards dunta. He is gaining literally nothing. All he's doing is showing the entire league that he can be every bit as stubborn as chad ocho cinco or to. That is not a positive thing.

His tender this year is a sunk cost regardless, so give him that conditional release, get him here and up to speed, enjoy his playing his heart out for a new contract for (hopefully) 19 games, and then worry about signing him long-term. Let him earn his way out of the tag. I'm not convinced that the 2010 offseason is going to be as rife with spending as some of the players may think. With an improved front 7, adding a safety or 2 in the draft next year, and we can be fine with jaques and freddy on the outside with quin and mccain as the nickel/dime going forward. Give us a healthy run into the playoffs, and the chemistry boost you get from a vocal leader like dunta will be far less of an issue, I assure you.