CCNorseman just pointed this out in the FanShots, but it needs highlighting because it affects the Vikings at a couple of their positions of need.
As we speculated earlier, the Kansas City Chiefs are reportedly going to use their franchise player designation on wide receiver Dwayne Bowe. This means that they are not going to be using it on cornerback Brandon Carr, meaning that Carr will be available for the Vikings if they should choose to pursue him.
The Chiefs are among the teams with the most available salary cap space to play with in the free agency period, so they could re-sign Carr if they can come to an agreement, but the lack of a franchise tag would seem to make it more likely that Carr will shake loose and hit the open market.
However, if the Vikings are interested in Carr, it looks like they might have some serious competition in the person of Jerry Jones.
All the talk prior to free agency is over which offensive lineman the Cowboys might sign. But another high-profile player at a different position could end up being the apple of their eyes. Sources have said the Cowboys would love for Chiefs CB Brandon Carr to hit the open market, so they can make a run at him. The expectation is that the Chiefs could franchise Carr and are said to be in fine cap shape, but they also have WR Dwayne Bowe to worry about. If Carr somehow makes it to March 13 unsigned, expect the Cowboys to go all in for him and worry about a high-profile guard (Carl Nicks or someone else) thereafter.
I'm not sure how much cap space the Cowboys have available to them, but with the Vikings likely to have somewhere between $25 to $30 million available, they can certainly make a run at a player like Carr if they want him and he becomes available.