In what is probably the must unsurprising news of this young off-season, Ian Rapoport reports that the Patriots will tag Logan Mankins as their Franchise player. So yes, that is why you might’ve heard a guttural scream and things breaking from the general vicinity of the Mankins home region of California.
If Mankins thought the Patriots would allow him to just walk to off the reservation to whatever contract tickled his fancy he was surely mistaken. But he’s smarter than that. He had to know this was coming.
The good news is that it looks like they’re taking a similar approach like they took with Vince Wilfork last year. Mankins still hasn’t been officially tagged yet so perhaps they are talking about a new contract. This could be unlikely due to the uncertainty surrounding the CBA, but it’s nice to at least have a little hope they’re only using the tag as a way to extend their negotiating window before someone like the Jets swoop in and offer a $3 billion dollar contract.
Mankins is exactly the kind of player the Patriots (or any football team for that matter) need. Granted the Pats did okay without him early last season, but there’s no denying the effect he had upon his return. Re-signing Mankins long term would lock up a nice young piece to build around for the next decade.
If a long term deal isn’t reached and Mankins has to play under the franchise tag there’s no doubt he’ll play just as pissed off as he was last year. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe the Pats should just keep tagging him every season just to make sure he keeps up his bad attitude and mauling ways.
Either way I hope he’s a Patriot for a long time.
