Friday, February 22, 2013
49ers playing tag?
By Tim Kavanagh
Armed with 11 total draft picks this April -- one in the first, second and fourth rounds, two in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh -- the San Francisco 49ers are in good shape to bolster themselves in certain spots this offseason; and that's before they get a return on a trade involving Alex Smith (either with picks or a player). But first, they need to re-sign or franchise tag any of their impending free agents that they want back.
When it comes to the tag, it's really down to two players: S Dashon Goldson and TE Delanie Walker. "We've always maintained [that] we want to keep as many of our core guys together as we can," GM Trent Baalke said during his press conference at the scouting combine, per CSN Bay Area. It's definitely a priority. Are we going to be able to do it? We don't know that. We'll work awfully hard to make that happen."
And also admitted, "Whether we use the tag or not, I really don't know at this point."
To tag Goldson, the cost would be higher than it is for other teams' retention of their safeties: since Goldson was tagged in 2012, his tender for 2013 would jump to $7.45 million. As for Walker, the tag value for TEs is projected to be $5.962 million.
