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14 Players Get The Franchise Tag

The deadline to place the franchise tag on players has come and gone and it ended up being a record number. A couple of other players might have gotten tagged too, such as either Oakland's CB Nnamdi Asomugha and P Shane Lechler, except they each got a massive new contract before the deadline. The 14 players as provided by Adam Schefter:

S Oshiomogho Atogwe — Rams

WR Antonio Bryant — Buccaneers

QB Matt Cassel – Patriots

LB Karlos Dansby — Cardinals

K Shayne Graham — Bengals

LB Leroy Hill — Seahawks

RB Brandon Jacobs — Giants

P Michael Koenen — Falcons

DE Julius Peppers — Panthers

CB Dunta Robinson — Texans

TE Bo Scaife – Titans

RB Darren Sproles — Chargers

T Max Starks — Steelers

LB Terrell Suggs — Ravens

There are a couple head scratchers on that list. A kicker (Shayne Graham) and a punter (Michael Koenen)? Times are apparently tough in Tampa and well known head case WR Antonio Bryant is their franchise player. Starks and Scaife are questionable, but understandable since both would leave a major hole in their teams' lineups. Atogwe isn't well known either, but he is a good young player and a team as bad as St. Louis can't let any good young player get away from them right now.

The only name I'm really disappointed in seeing is LB Terrell Suggs. He's the free agent player I was really hoping the Packers would pursue. And the Ravens tagged him to keep him. There is little chance they placed the tag on him so they could trade him, like the Panthers did with DE Julius Peppers.