While with the Dallas Cowboys, he was highly productive as a wide receiver and as a headliner. The problem with that is he was too willing to speak when “no comment” would suffice. Recently Owens has blamed the media and ESPN for his difficulties in finding a new team. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to Cowboys fans. Dislike Roy Williams with all your heart, but he accepts personal responsibility for his difficulties on the field. Owens is either oblivious to his short comings or he simply refuses to acknowledge that he is a veteran wide receiver who has lost a step. I believe he is oblivious. He cannot connect the erosion of his physical skills to a lack of production. In 2009 with Buffalo, he had 55 receptions for 829 yards. The statistics on their own are not overly impressive; however, in the context of the dearth of talent at quarterback, it is nearly astonishing.

How many Buffalo games were worth watching in 2009? The Bills won six games, but they wins were against bottom feeder teams like Carolina and Tampa Bay (with two wins against solid divisional opponents and one against the Colts while they were resting their players). The games I did watch, Owens was a non-factor. I’d like to definitively say that Owens isn’t signed because his receptions in 2009 could have been made by any wide receiver on the Bills team, but the fact of the matter is I do not know because I did not care to watch.

Those who do care enough to watch are NFL personnel guys. These talent evaluators have every decision analyzed by the media and the public. Their livelihood is at stake every year. If they are fired, they may find a new home, but most professional people will tell you that relocating your family and saying goodbye to friends, schools, churches, and even grocery stores is a situation they wish to involve themselves. They don’t listen to ESPN or TMZ. They don’t listen to gossip or rumors. They look at film. If Owens appears to be competent on film, they continue their due diligence and contact the former teams.

As previously indicated, I’m ignorant about 2009, but I am fully aware of what I saw in 2008. Owens was a wide receiver who was no longer able to separate from mid-level corners, he no longer commanded double teams, he had difficulty getting off press-coverage, he had difficulty focusing on catching the ball which translated into drops, he demanded the ball despite not having the commensurate production, and he simply did not know how to say no comment.

I agreed with Owens that the wide receivers were not being utilized in the Cowboys 2008 offense. Reports suggest that Roy Williams ran the same 15 yard comeback every play, Crayton had limited plays of consequence, and the balls being forced to Owens generally sailed over his head as he was well covered. According to Bill Parcells, you do not want your best offensive threat to be a tight end as it allows for the defense to congest running lanes while still allowing a defense to focus on tight end coverage. It’s not that Owens was wrong, but he certainly did not accept that the difficulties were not with play calling, but rather his own doing.

Will Owens find a home in 2010. Certainly. Some team will make a desperate effort to fill a team with names in an effort to fill seats with fans. Owens may be more productive in 2010 than he was in 2009, but it does not mean that Sam Hurd (or any other mid-level WR in the league) in that same role would not have been equally productive.

Anquan Boldin, along with a 5th round pick, was traded Friday night to the Baltimore Ravens for 3rd and 4th round draft picks.  Boldin also signed a 4 year contract valued at $28 million with $10 million in guaranteed money.  In regards to salary, Boldin now earns nearly as much as the Cowboys’s highest paid WR, Roy Williams.

This trade is on the heels of the Braylon Edwards trade to the NY Jets for a conditional 3rd (could become a 2nd round pick) and a 5th round choice. WR Chansi Stuckey and LB Jason Trusnik were traded to Cleveland in the deal.

Cowboys fans are all aware that they overpaid for Roy Williams, giving up a 1st and a 3rd round pick (the Cowboys 6th round pick for the Lions 7th round pick are a wash).  There is no reason to continuing beating that horse, unless it is to upset a member of PETA.  The trade is only 8 years since the Cowboys traded 2 first round draft picks for Joey Galloway.  The question is, how can such a shrewd business man like Jerry Jones not understand the market value of a “star” wide receiver.

Jones has been a shrewd buyer and seller during the draft.  In 2004, the Cowboys traded out of the 1st round and acquired the Bills’s 2nd round pick and 2005 1st round pick.  In 2005, the Cowboys drafted Marcus Spears with the Bills pick.  What many fans may not know, is that Bill Parcells, the head coach at the time, was nearly adamant that they should draft Spears with the Cowboys 11th overall pick.  It was Jones who convinced Parcells that it would be prudent to draft DeMarcus Ware at 11, and wait for Spears to fall to the 20th pick.

In 2007, the Cowboys traded out of the first round, picking up the Browns 2nd and 2008′s 1st round pick.  The Cowboys eventually traded back into the first round drafting Anthony Spencer.  The Browns first round pick in 2008 became Felix Jones.

I suppose the moral of the above is “Once burned, twice shy.”  Jerry Jones must have 3rd degree burns.  Get well Jerry, the Cowboys need a good draft in April.

Every year a player gets the franchise tag, and every year we hear how players resent the tag.  Broken record style, we are told that originally the tag was supposed to be an honor.  Players are forced to wait at least one more year (occasionally 2) to achieve financial security they rightfully earned by their quality of play.  They risk their financial well being 23 times in games plus countless practices where they could be irrevocably injured.  Sure they earn 2.6 to 14.5 million dollars for one season, depending upon their position, but if they sign a long-term contract, they would have received a substantial portion of that in a signing bonus plus their season salary.  If they are significantly injured, they risk all of their future earnings, let alone being on a NFL roster for the following year.  In past years, it is easier to be cut when there aren’t cap implications.

NFL teams have all the power in the current arrangement and players rightfully resent it.  Changes can be made with the financial arrangements involving the franchise tag.  Maintain the status quo of establishing a franchise players salary by averaging the top five salaries at the players position. In 2009, a problem arose when Terrell Suggs and the Ravens had a dispute of what position he played.  If he was tagged as a defensive end, he would receive a larger salary than being tagged at OLB.  Therefore, if a player plays multiple positions over the course of a season, the ratio of the top two positions the player played snaps at will be calculated into the  salary (40% DE v. 60% OLB).  This would also eliminate having to make an average of 11 possible positions, like the year Adalius Thomas played at least one snap at ever position when he was with the Ravens.

In addition to the above, rather than the franchise tag being only a one year contract, it should be constructed as a 3 year arrangement. The first year being the contract as established above, and with 2 subsequent years becoming active if the tagged player is significantly injured in that first year.  The 2nd and 3rd year would be a percentage of the first year contract, let’s say 70%, that will be paid entirely, or the difference of what is signed by the player the following year.  As an example:

Year 1:  10 Million with the player sustaining a significant knee injury in week 16.

Year 2: Player is not on an NFL roster and receives 7 Million from the team that franchised him.

Year 3: Player signs a 1 year contract for 2.5 million from a new team and receives 4.5 million from their original team.

I realize that this is a bit convoluted (but we are talking about the NFL – just look at the convoluted landscape of 2010′s free agency) and the NFL would be reluctant to accept such a risk.  A minority of players are burdened with this risk yearly.  It isn’t a stretch to believe that a franchised player should be able to earn 24 Million over 3 years (at most positions).  In this scenario, a team’s cap space (presuming there will ever be a cap again) isn’t destroyed by a player not on their roster, while the player maintains some financial security.  Also, teams will be more reluctant to tag players and consequently will be encouraged to workout longterm contracts.

While the NFL and NFL Players Association may address the franchise tag, I doubt they will make such drastic changes.  I fully encourage ya’ll to give your thoughts on whether the Franchise Tag even needs to be addressed, and if so, how you would alter the system.