But did it really? Sure we got the comp picks which are extremely valuable, but OV is a hell of a football player to lose. Look at the resources we are using to try and replace him. You've got Mario's contract, Branch, and now a first round pick. I like our situation at DE now, but it's been very costly to fix. Had we tagged OV, perhaps he signs with us for around 15 mil a year because he doesn't seem like the type that wants to play on a tag. My point is, we need to start using the franchise tag. Not the transition tag, but the franchise tag. It buys you time, isn't risky for the future, and you get to retain an elite player for another year in his prime. This is what we should do with Landry if things don't work out, buy time and another year of his prime. After that he can walk and still give us the comp picks in the future if necessary, but this franchise needs to start buying time, it's kind of valuable. If we want to truly compete with NE these next 2 years (hopefully they drop off after that) we are going to need Juice and that's only going to cost us around 9 mil per year on average which is an absolute steal. 2 years from now, everything will change, but we need to stay as competitive as possible through 2018, which coincidentally is the end of HoF Cam Wake's contract. Then a new era begins...