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The 2016 NFL Calendar tells us today is the first day teams can use the franchise or transition tag on players who are set to become free agents on March 9th. The availability of the franchise tag probably won't result in your Houston Texans doing anything, as the list of the Texans' free agents to be...
Shane Lechler
Brandon Brooks
Ben Jones
Jared Crick
Chris Clark
Chris Polk
Nate Washington
A.J. Bouye
Justin Tuggle
Jonathan Grimes
Darryl Morris
Eddie Pleasant
Quintin Demps
John Simon
Nick Novak
Jeff Adams
T.J. Yates
Brandon Weeden
...coupled with what many expect to be a copious amount of cap room, should not force the Texans to break out the tag(s).
PFT thinks there's a chance Lechler could get tagged, but the punter/kicker franchise tag number of $4,500,000.00 strikes me as a silly price to pay, especially with Lechler coming off a a season that didn't approach the standard he's established throughout his career. Whether you attribute that decline to bad special teams coverage or Father Time (Lechler will turn 40 years old in August) is up to you, but it should not require the team to commit to paying their punter $4.5 mil to prevent him from testing the market.
Brandon Brooks and Ben Jones are both starting offensive linemen the team would surely like to retain, but not at the offensive line franchise tag number of $13,700,000.00. After that, it's difficult to find a name on the list who the Texans would consider indispensable. Excepting, of course, T.J. Yates for every game against the Bengals.
Consequently, all the good franchise tag gossip should come from elsewhere over the next couple of weeks. My condolences.