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.