The Official 2012 NFL Draft Talk Thread

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Stephen

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?

Yup, perfect sense.
But now it begs the question as to why, as a restricted free agent, Ward commands a first round pick if someone picks him up?
Or am I just mixing up the tender offer with restricted free agent rules?