On Monday the New England Patriots placed the franchise tag on kicker Stephen Gostkowski shortly before the 4 p.m. deadline. This move may jeopardize the team's future with safety Devin McCourty.
The Patriots have until March 10 before McCourty hits the free agent market and by that point it may be too late. McCourty should garner a ton of interest since he'll be the top safety available, with Rahim Moore and Antrel Rolle behind him. But since McCourty has his age (27) on his side and is coming off a Super Bowl victory, the Patriots are in serious danger of losing him unless they already have a deal lined up.
The 2015 franchise tag figure for safeties was set at $9.6 million, but New England has a difficult salary cap situation as they sit about $17 million above the $143.28 million number for 2015. Earlier this month it was said the team was expected to place the tag on McCourty and that it would be surprising if they let him get away in free agency, but today's news really casts doubt over that, especially since they need to negotiate with cornerback Darrelle Revis as well.
Last week Phil Perry of CSNNE.com reported that McCourty would be fine with being franchised tagged. However, the $9.6 million salary for 2015 may have been too big of a figure for the Patriots to add to their cap since Tom Brady ($14 million), Jerod Mayo ($10.28 million), Vince Wilfork ($8.9 million), Rob Gronkowski ($8.65 million), Nate Solder ($7.4 million) and Sebastian Vollmer ($7 million) already contribute to nearly 40% of the team's salary cap.
Perhaps New England is planning on working on a back-loaded long-term deal for McCourty within the next eight days. It's also possible they look to restructure the contracts of other stars to create more room, but it's hard to believe they can do significant work over that span.
"I've thought about all different scenarios whether I'm here or whether I'm somewhere else," McCourty told Perry. "At this point, I don't have a contract. It could happen that I could be playing somewhere else. I think it would be crazy not to think that that could be reality. I've thought about all those scenarios."
Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com believes the Pats would likely "keep an open line of communication with McCourty and his representatives by letting them know they're interested in retaining him" as the safety fields offers on the free agent market.
McCourty is expected to land a deal that will pay him $9 million per season, so it'll be interesting to see how the Patriots handle their salary cap situation as well as what teams get involved for the Pro Bowler.
