‘”We are announcing [Wednesday] that we have placed the franchise tag on Nate Clements,” Bills general manager Marv Levy said. “We consider Nate a valuable member of our defense and believe he will play an important role in re-establishing our defense as one of the toughest units in the league. At the same time, we remain optimistic that we will be able to work out a long-term deal with Nate in the foreseeable future.”‘