According to Gregg Rosenthal of NBC Sports, the Kansas City Chiefs signing of CB Stanford Routt on Monday has major implications for their two main free agents:
The Chiefs essentially decided to sign Stanford Routt over trying to re-sign cornerback Brandon Carr to agree to a long-term deal.
One big benefit to Routt's contract: Now Kansas City can use the franchise tag on wide receiver Dwayne Bowe.
The Chiefs have a huge amount of salary cap space, so it should be easy to tag Bowe. A long-term deal could be tough to put together quickly. A one-year contract will give Bowe motivation to play his best again in 2012; motivation has been an issue at times during his career.
On Twitter, Chiefs players and writers agreed with Rosenthal's conclusion:
Yeah i agree RT @SteveOReilly: Carr is going to test FA, I'd bank on it. Bowe will get tagged.
— Le'Ron McClain (@LeRon_McClain44) February 20, 2012
This means Bowe will be franchised (the right move), but Carr will return only if he's naively willing to give a massive hometown discount.
— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) February 20, 2012