Franchise Tag: Cooley or Taylor?

Of course, we all know neither of them are actually eligible to be franchised this year. But if they were, and if you could only franchise one of them, and had to, perhaps, release the other, which one would it be?

Personally I would franchise Sean Taylor at the drop of a hat.

Just to be clear, I think Chris Cooley is unquestionably, at least in my mind, a franchise type player. Save Antonio Gates, there isn't one TE/H-Back or whatever you want to call him, I would rather have on my team than Chris Cooley.

But if I had to choose, I would throw my money at Sean Taylor.

Yeah, I love both but I'd have to take Taylor.

I wouldn't franchise either of them, just get deals done with them long before it comes to that. Franchising a player usually only makes things ugly, and with the way the Skins stretch the cap to the limit, I don't see how they could afford to franchise a player.

I wouldn't franchise either of them, just get deals done with them long before it comes to that. Franchising a player usually only makes things ugly, and with the way the Skins stretch the cap to the limit, I don't see how they could afford to franchise a player.


But all things being equal, and for the sake of discussion.....and that was the only option what would you do?

He made it pretty clear this is a hypothetical question, Matty.

I'd franchise Taylor, simply because he would be more difficult to replace. He's a safety in a linebacker's body, with great speed and coverage skills (I don't care what anyone says, he can cover. He doesn't get 10 picks at Miami w/o coverage skills)

I really don't know. Taylor was wildly inconsistent last year and overall at this point in his career he just hasn't taken full advantage of his physical skill set. He has the potential to be one of the top safeties of all time, so in that respect he's been a bit of a disappointment to me. Fair or not, he hasn't lived up to the lofty expectations we all have for him.

Cooley on the other hand has proven to be an absolute steal. I think a QB's best friend in this league is a quality TE, and Cooley is definitely a top 10 TE. I think he's really in for a big year.

Also, taking into consideration the off the field issues of Taylor, his enigmatic behavior at times, vs. the fan-favorite type of personality that Cooley has, I'd probably push harder to retain Cooley over Taylor.

I really don't know. Taylor was wildly inconsistent last year and overall at this point in his career he just hasn't taken full advantage of his physical skill set. He has the potential to be one of the top safeties of all time, so in that respect he's been a bit of a disappointment to me. Fair or not, he hasn't lived up to the lofty expectations we all have for him.

Cooley on the other hand has proven to be an absolute steal. I think a QB's best friend in this league is a quality TE, and Cooley is definitely a top 10 TE. I think he's really in for a big year.

Also, taking into consideration the off the field issues of Taylor, his enigmatic behavior at times, vs. the fan-favorite type of personality that Cooley has, I'd probably push harder to retain Cooley over Taylor.

I think there is a strong case for Cooley - very strong. Like I said, I think the only guy I clearly take over Cooley is Gates.

He made it pretty clear this is a hypothetical question, Matty.

I get that, the realist in my couldn't resist though.

I think you would have to keep Taylor. However, that also depends how much of a security blanket Cooley becomes for Campbell this year and, and I think this is really important, Taylor's happiness with the team. I'm sure people are gonna say he should shut his mouth and play, but if he got franchised and refused to play, they'd end up trading him. If that's gonna happen, I guess it's better to get something for him, but I wouldn't want to see him go.

I think the franchise tag has become something that it was never intended to be. It's a huge negative for a guy to get franchised now, they rarely ever get extensions. I'd rather not be in the situation, but should it arise, you have my answer.