Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes recently signed his franchise tender, once word emerged that the Falcons may be trading for cornerback Asante Samuel. A similar dynamic could be playing out in Kansas City.
A league source tells PFT that there is chatter in league circles that Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe is considering signing his franchise tender due to concerns that the Chiefs will use their first-round pick on a receiver, and then strip the franchise tag from Bowe.
Yes, that would make Bowe an unrestricted free agent. But with the big money for free agents long since dried up, Bowe wouldn’t get a deal remotely close to the one he would have gotten on March 13, the day on which the market opened. At this point, his short-term and long-term interests may be better served by accepting the one-year, $9.5 million offer and trying to get a long-term deal while under contract.
Of course, signing the franchise tender would reduce his leverage, since he would no longer be able to refuse to provide services without financial consequence. Losing the $9.5 million bird in the hand, however, could prove to be an ever larger a financial consequence.
Stripping the tag from Bowe would also hurt the Chiefs; there’s no guarantee a first-round wideout will generate the same kind of production as Bowe — and Bowe would then be able to walk away without compensation.