The Official 2012 NFL Draft Talk Thread

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by shilala

I'm a bit lost on a "first round tender".
I understand that the reason his restricted free agency demands a first round pick is because he went in the first round.
I know franchise amounts are set by the CBA, as are tenders.
I just fail to see what the point is in the Steelers offering him a one-year 2.7 million deal? Any other team can beat that by a buck and give up a first round draft pick, right?
Or do the Steelers then have the opportunity to beat that offer, repeating ad nauseum?
Or does the dealing stop as soon as the Steelers beat any and all offers made for Wallace?
I'd think it'd be a better move to NOT offer him a deal, see if others come up with a number, then beat it, since they only have 2.75 million to play with anyways. The hope being that the highest offer for Wallace would be maybe 1.5 million.
I'll leave it at that because I really want to understand the tender offer and I have never been able to get my head around it.

A first round tender has nothing to do with where he was drafted (he was drafted in the 3rd round BTW) but what kind of protection the franchise puts on his rights (there are varying levels of tenders a franchise can use). So in this case, they put a first round tender on him (this year being 2.7 million) and Wallace is free to seek out a deal with any other team. So, let's say the Rams offer and Wallace agrees to a 5/30 deal. The Steelers then get the right to match that offer. If they choose not to, the Rams sign Wallace to the already agreed upon contract and the Steelers get the Rams 1st round pick as compensation. Make sense?