Chronicle piece on Dunta Robinson ignores key facts about Texans options

November 22, 9:20 AMHouston Texans ExaminerAlan Burge

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Robinson during training camp (Houston Chronicle)

Houston Chronicle writer Jerome Solomon keyed an article today that's missing some critical details. 

Solomon writes, "as a free agent at the end of the season, Robinson will be offered liberty that NFL players must explore." 

Hmmm. That might lead readers to believe that there's nothing the Texans can do about Dunta's impending unrestricted free agency and he's as good as gone. 

There we go.  The Texans front office screwed up again.  Why didn't the Texans lock up Robinson two years ago before his injury?

Nothing like fanning flames of hate and discontent among fans when the coals are the hottest.

The headline about the Texans "giving Robinson a way out" could lead some to believe that the Texans did something recently to enable his unabated exit.  Not.

Why didn't they lock him up two years ago?  Uh, I dunno. Maybe for the same reason I didn't pull my money out of the stock market and put it in a mattress two years ago.  Maybe it's because they can't predict the future.  More shame on them for that.  Someone needs to be fired.

Could you hear the wailing if they had extended Robinson before the injury and now we were dealing with the possibility that the Texans 'threw away' another $25 million on yet another player?  How could the front office be so inept?  Why didn't they wait until '08 to work on his extension? How stupid could they be?

King of Hindsight, no doubt.

Well, the reality is that the Texans do have a choice in Dunta Robinson's future.  It's called the franchise tag. And for whatever reason, Solomon chose to ignore the fact that it's an option for the Texans to use on Robinson next February if Dunta wants to explore his worth around the league - and I'm guessing he will.

Solomon writes "logic says [Robinson will] be leaving the Texans after the season."

Well my logic says that the Texans will consider tagging him, but only if his knee holds up over the next six weeks.  Robinson disclosed earlier this week that his knee still doesn't feel right and that's a concern.  The Texans are smart by throwing him out there to audition for the rest of his career. 

Here's what Robinson said after practice Thursday:  "I still feel a little funny in my knee sometimes. You know, I say that’s probably the only thing, I still wake up with soreness. Until I can get that out of the way—I feel like I’m moving fine. I watch film, I’ve been watching a lot of film of most of the games that I played this year and a lot of the games I played before my injury and you really can’t tell the difference in the player. But I feel a difference when I’m out there. If I can just get that to go away, which I know it will over time, I’ll be fine.” 

I still feel a little funny in my knee sometimes.   - Dunta Robinson

Yes, it's smart business.

There are two types of franchise tags, exclusive and non-exclusive.  The exclusive tag means the player can't negotiate with other teams while the non-exclusive tag means the player can negotiate with other teams.

To franchise a player, a team must extend a contract to the player that's worth at least the average of the top five players at that position. 

In Dunta's case the exclusive franchise tag would be a contract worth the average of the top five salaries of cornerbacks at the end of the restricted free agency period in mid-April 2009. The non-exclusive tag would be a contract worth the average of the top five salaries of cornerbacks in 2008.  That number is around $9.5 million - for a one year deal. 

Another key aspect of the non-exclusive franchise tag is that the original team has the right of first refusal on any offers the tagged player receives from other teams.  If the original team chooses not to match, it's entitled to receive two first-round draft choices as compensation.  Needless to say, that doesn't happen very often so the non-exclusive tag is usually a pretty secure move - and why non-exclusive franchise tags are more common than exclusive tags.  The only exclusive franchise tag in the NFL last year was given to all-everything cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha of the Raiders.

After placing a franchise tag on the player, teams can still negotiate long term deals with the player.  Players don't like the franchise tags because it prevents them from getting the huge $20+ million dollar free agent signing bonuses that top free agents sometimes receive.

Robinson has been vocal in his frustration this season.  I can fully understand if he wants to play elsewhere and he is entitled to whatever the market will bear for his services.  He has also said that he wants to continue to play here. 

I'm a huge Dunta fan and hope he fully heals and is back with us for years to come.  Heck, I hope that the Texans are somehow able to lock him up to a long term contract before they have to use the franchise tag.

But the point is that Dunta leaving is far from a done deal and I thought it was important to get those key details out there so that fans can engage in this debate fully armed.