The St. Louis Rams applied the franchise tag last year to safety Oshiomogho Atogwe. This time around, they opted to use only the lowest level restricted free agency tender, thanks to the increase in eligibility for unrestricted free agency from four years to six in the uncapped year.
But there’s a hitch. As of June 1, the Rams must decide whether to let Atogwe walk -- or whether to extend a new tender in the amount of 110 percent of his 2009 salary.
The Rams aren’t expected to commit to the much higher amount, but they apparently aren’t interested in giving up on Atogwe just yet. Per Brian Stull of ESPN 101 in St. Louis (via the Red Zone), the team and the player continue to negotiate.
In one week and three days, he’ll most likely be able to negotiate with every other team, too.
Though he likely won’t be getting the kind of money that stopped flowing in early March, there could be a team or two that opted to hold a little something back in the budget once the Rams decided to adopt a strategy that points to Atogwe being available as of June 1.