Chris at Houston Diehards said it as well as it can be said, so I'll simply direct your attention to his post over there. Dunta on getting tagged as a franchise player:
"Tagging was out of the question according to Rick," Robinson told The Associated Press. "I was told that. I just feel betrayed. I'm disappointed that they lied to me."
"I'm still able to play football and I love my team," he said. "I love playing for the city of Houston. Something somebody does or something somebody says is not going to affect my game in a negative way."At the end of last season, Robinson said he hoped to finish his career in Houston. Now the 26-year-old isn't sure that's the right move.
"Because of my teammates and because of this city and my family ... I really don't want to leave," he said. "But a situation like this makes it much, much harder to stay."
Questions abound. First, did Rick Smith lie to Dunta? When you consider that earlier this week John McClain was reporting that Dunta likely would not be franchised, it makes you wonder. More intriguing to me is why the team would even seriously contemplate relinquishing any of its negotiating leverage, including the one option that makes the most sense in this situation, much less telling the player that it won't use that tool. As many of you have noted, the franchise tag was created for precisely this sort of predicament. Knowing that, why would Rick Smith not use each and every weapon at his disposal? Why voluntarily handicap yourself?
Regardless of what was said, money has a strange way of curing all that ails a scorned player. If the team eventually gives Dunta Robinson the big guaranteed money he wants, this is just a blip on the radar, and all's forgiven. If that deal doesn't materialize, all we can do is hope that Dunta remains the professional he's always been. More on this story as it develops...