Hanson to Get Franchise Tag If Deal Isn't Reached by Feb. 19

by Sean Yuille on Feb 12, 2009 3:23 PM EST in Detroit Lions News

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew met with beat reporters this afternoon to introduce new senior personnel executive James "Shack" Harris. Naturally, the topic of conversation turned to other matters. Mayhew said the Lions will use the franchise tag on kicker Jason Hanson if a contract is not agreed upon by the Feb. 19 deadline to designate players as such.

"I think we'll get something done prior to that," Mayhew said. "If we don't then we'll franchise Jason."

I'll have more on what Mayhew said tomorrow.

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Hanson

Let me start by saying that I would never, ever want to see in Hanson in another team’s uniform, he has been the only consistent positive on this team for a very long time. Having said that, how often, if ever, have teams used the franchise tag on a kicker? I don’t know why, but it just seems odd to me. I know I don’t follow things as closely as most of you guys do, but I was just curious.

by Lostincali on Feb 12, 2009 3:59 PM EST reply actions

Yeah it happens, I think the Seahawks franchised Josh Brown last year (or maybe the year before.)

by pleaselionswinasuperbowlbeforeidie on Feb 12, 2009 4:08 PM EST up reply actions

He ended up going to St. Louis last year

Don’t know if he was franchised before that, though.

Check out Pride of Detroit, SB Nation's Lions Blog

by Sean Yuille on Feb 12, 2009 5:17 PM EST up reply actions

why not?

who else are they going to franchise?

might as well use the tag on the kicker if there’s no one else worth keeping

by wumanchu01 on Feb 12, 2009 5:28 PM EST up reply actions

I agree with that 100%, and I did not mean to imply (if I did) that a kicker was not worth the franchise tag, it just seems that other positions generally come up as being more important to a team most of the time. I agree that a good kicker is very important to the success of a team.

by Lostincali on Feb 12, 2009 5:42 PM EST up reply actions

I think that the value...

of putting the tag on Hanson is only around $2.26 MM for 2009. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong on that. For me, with the cap space available, that is more than worth it to have Hanson back for another year. My guess is that they will get a deal done before the 27th.

by DrewsLions on Feb 13, 2009 11:36 AM EST up reply actions