Non-exclusive franchise tag. He could have still negotiated the same deal with Cleveland, but they would have had to give us something to get him. And I also read somewhere it was the highest deal ever for a center. Just a blown move on our part. Now Cleveland is shopping Jeff Faine, how much you wanna bet we trade them something for him? :?

i like payton but it is still mickey the bean counter making the moves. that would be in line with his MO. too poetic, give away the great guy and overpay the journeyman he replaced.

Exactly....hey BlackandBlue...here is an early look at the "new regime".

I hope I'm wrong, but it seems like they'll hit panic mode if Brees doesn't sign. They are too reactive, and don't seem to have contingencies in place. Surely they can focus on more than one FA at a time.