Minnesota Vikings Might Not Be Able To Use Transition Tag On Sidney Rice

by Christopher Gates on Feb 21, 2011 10:41 PM CST in Minnesota Vikings

Back when we first started speculating which of their impending free agents the Minnesota Vikings would use the franchise tag on, a story came out that said that the Vikings would use the franchise tag on LB Chad Greenway and the transition tag on WR Sidney Rice. As it was the final league year, the league's current CBA allowed for teams to be able to use both tags when, in the past, they had only been able to use one.

Now, Pro Football Talk is saying that there's some language that might not allow that to happen.

A league source recently explained to us that the extra transition tag under the rules of the uncapped year may be applied only to a player with six years of service. Rice has only four.

There’s still no guarantee an extra transition tag will be available under the next CBA, or under any rules that are unilaterally applied by the league due to decertification or a declaration or impasse.

In a capped year, teams may use only one franchise tag or one transition tag, but not both.

Now, before we begin to despair, Judd Zulgad of the Star-Tribune makes a good point. . .under the new CBA, it's entirely possible that Sidney Rice won't even be an unrestricted free agent, making the need for any sort of tag at all non-existent. If it turns out that Rice is a restricted free agent rather than an unrestricted one, I'd be willing to wager that they'd automatically tender him at the highest possible level and collect a first-round and third-round pick from anybody that wanted to try to sign him away.

So, the Vikings have used the one tag that they can apparently use, unless they want to tag one of their free agents that has more than six years of service, which I would have my doubts about.

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Thanks for that information.

It’s amazing how the twists and turns of the CBA keep everyone guessing. It’s good not to be Rick Spielman right now.

IT IS TIME TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO DRAFT A FRANCHISE QUARTERBACK.
No more old guys. No more excuses. No more passing up our own great drafted quarterback.

by lifelongvike on Feb 22, 2011 8:14 AM CST reply actions

So...

Are you saying that the Vikings made this move without fully understanding the process of giving Rice the transition tag?

That’s kinda……. hrmmm, a bit of a bad sign to me.

Nothing's tougher than being a diehard Vikings fan.

by KJSegall on Feb 22, 2011 1:08 PM CST reply actions

Or they knew all along

and the reporters were only speculating what they were intending to do and found this out, and reported it.

One of the two.

by Frost on Feb 22, 2011 2:39 PM CST up reply actions

For our sake

I certainly hope it’s closer to Frost’s response than OrlandoVikesFan’s reasoning. (-:

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by Christopher Gates on Feb 22, 2011 2:49 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah...

me too.

Nothing's tougher than being a diehard Vikings fan.

by KJSegall on Feb 23, 2011 6:08 PM CST up reply actions

You would think they would know that

Not only that, it’s not like the “tag” is even relevant. LIke said above, the tags might be worthless once a new CBA is reached. What I find more interesting is the fact that this is (i think) 4 straight days down the NFL and NFLPA have meet w/ the mediator so as long as they are talking, a deal will be made. Who knows? If they keep working at it, the new CBA may be done before the previous one expires. Thinks are looking good lately all around. I might go buy a PowerBall.

by DM_Purp on Feb 22, 2011 3:45 PM CST reply actions

Tags place before the CBA expires

are still under the contract of that date period. So I believe both the franchise and transition tags are considered legit.
Now, in the description I had copied and pasted on another post I saw nothing that said anything about a 6 year stipulation. That doesn’t mean that isn’t in the “fine print” (which I so depressingly found out in a disability claim today) Ah-hem, I regress back to topic. Wouldn’t you think that the NFL teams would want to adress this. The disruption of plans made in contracts and team plans for those signees might be a bargaining issue. if I were an owner I would ask that these RFA contracts be honored for another year B$ eliminating them totally. That is one thin I would side with owners on. Removal of this clause now is unfair to the teams that signed them and the fans who expected those players to be with them another year. It is not unfair to the players as they still get to find out their value and get paid accordingly. So I don’t cry for them in this case.
Again, this CBA crap is just making the past crappy season that much worse.for me. I remember Frost, Manimal and I would be glued to tickers and web sites just waiting for free agent signings. We don’t even have that fun now

AKA : Revenge4Webb

by CitrusFLViking on Feb 22, 2011 10:34 PM CST reply actions

I was listening to our local sports-talk radio yesterday

They had PFT’s Mike Florio on and he was talking about the optimism in the CBA. May take a couple more weeks and it sounds like they’re working on the “little things” right now. Who knows what is going to happen when they talk about the big things MONEY. One nugget he pointed out was that normally some of the agents have a meeting with the scouts and GMs on the Thursday before the Combine, but they have pushed that meeting back to Friday where there will be all of the agents there so that the NFL/NFLPA can continue talks on Thursday. The fact that it sounds like they are almost treating the Combine as a distraction to the labor talks is very promising.

by DM_Purp on Feb 23, 2011 1:23 PM CST up reply actions

DO NOT let Sidney Rice go!!

Pay the man!!

The dude absolutely FIGHTS for the ball, and in the very rare circumstance he doesn’t catch it, he makes sure the CB or Safety doesn’t either. He had a breakout year in 2009 because the Vikings finally got a quarterback that knew how to throw him the damn football. Rice is THE reason Favre had only SEVEN interceptions in 2009. It wasn’t because Brett suddenly started making only safe throws. One example that springs to mind is the leaping catch against the Seahawks in TRIPLE coverage. Now, I know 2009 was 2009. He was told by, I think, two different doctors that his hip would not need surgery in the off-season, so he probably trusted their opinions. But as the 2010 season got closer, he had to bite the bullet and get surgery. Different people heal differently. I believe him when he says that it had nothing to do with his contract. Sure, Percy Harvin played injured a lot in 2010, but Harvin is a total warrior and obviously has an insane pain threshold.

by WilkesViking on Feb 23, 2011 2:23 PM CST reply actions

Not that I blame Rice for deciding against surgery

but I recall it being one doctor outta three who said he might not need surgery. Again, I don’t blame him that much- but I hope he doesn’t make that mistake again.

Nothing's tougher than being a diehard Vikings fan.

by KJSegall on Feb 23, 2011 6:10 PM CST up reply actions