New Orleans Saints say franchise tag a last minute option

With General Manager Mickey Loomis having all these figures on his plate, it’s no wonder the process is taking some time.

Three top market free agents, new staff members leaving and joining the organization, the NFL Combine coming up, and scouting at the Senior Bowl.

Negotiations take time and many fans are wondering what is taking so long and why the hold up?

"The fact that Drew Brees is a part of this free agent class makes it seem a little more daunting than it would be ordinarily. But less than eight months ago, we had 26 unrestricted free agents a week or a week and a half before (training camp) began. I don’t know that it gets any more daunting than that.—Saints GM Mickey Loomis."

As much as Who Dat Nation doesn’t want to hear it, it’s a process. A long process which have plenty of small details and figures to balance out.

The Saints just can’t pull out a check book and write any figure they want down.

As much as we would like that to happen, we can’t.

Let’s not forget that no other team in the NFL has re-signed any of their key players either, so the Saints aren’t behind by any means.

The Houston Texans are facing a similar situation as the Saints with linebacker Mario Williams, and running back Arian Foster both becoming free agents.

New Orleans has not used a franchise tag on a player since the 2007 season when they tagged defensive end Charles Grant. He was given the non-exclusive tag.

The Saints have until  the deadline of March 5th to apply the franchise tag on a player.