Mike Florio

They had one year left on his rookie deal, 24 million under the fifth year option.

They gave him a market-level contract when they didn't have to.

They should have let it play out.

They should have seen what he could do in 2024 and then make a decision, do we franchise tag him or not?

So I just think the functional teams, when they know they have a great player, they don't play games.

They don't wait around.

They get that player signed well before the franchise tag dance ever begins.

Well, the transition tag doesn't get used all that much anymore because I think it was 2011.

That tender, that one-year contract that goes with being the transition tag player became fully guaranteed the moment the player takes it.

It used to be it wasn't fully guaranteed and the team still had some options if it wanted to do something down the road.

And it also doesn't give the team any compensation if the player leaves.

The issue with Bayard, how much of this is right place, right time, right moment?

And when you factor in his age, does it make sense to make that commitment?

And the other side of the coin is, what does the team think the market for the player is going to be?

Is there someone out there that is going to offer significantly more than what the Bears would pay to keep him?

And if there isn't, there's no reason to slam the door on free agency.

And for some teams, and look, they have a two-week window for this.

Now, there's a chance someone is going to get tagged by Friday, so it sends the message when everyone goes to Indianapolis next week for the scouting combine where tampering is rampant, don't waste your time trying to put ideas in the head of this guy's agent about what's out there because he's been tagged.

But in some situations, it can be valuable because, you know, the Bears will get wind of what may be out there for Bayard if he becomes a free agent, and that could be enough to get them to say, you know what, you know what,

We'd rather tag him because we think somebody else is going to sign him if he hits the open market.