Nate Clements

[BeastMode54]

Nate Clements asked not to be franchised after getting tagged the previous year when he was a Bill. We honored his wish and let him walk for nothing. I understand that people view the Bills organization as upstanding, but who cares what a player thinks. Peppers certainly didn't want one either. It just frustrates me looking back that we didn't tag him and at least try and trade him for something.

[Erik]

Nate Clements asked not to be franchised after getting tagged the previous year when he was a Bill. We honored his wish and let him walk for nothing. I understand that people view the Bills organization as upstanding, but who cares what a player thinks. Peppers certainly didn't want one either. It just frustrates me looking back that we didn't tag him and at least try and trade him for something.

 

Other teams have done that recently...NE did it with Samuel and TEN did it with Haynesworth. It's common place these days and some teams would rather avoid confrontation and take a comp pick.

[thebandit27]

Nate Clements asked not to be franchised after getting tagged the previous year when he was a Bill. We honored his wish and let him walk for nothing. I understand that people view the Bills organization as upstanding, but who cares what a player thinks. Peppers certainly didn't want one either. It just frustrates me looking back that we didn't tag him and at least try and trade him for something.

 

Clements did NOT sign his one-year franchise tender contract. He signed a separate one-year deal worth the value of the franchise tender that contained a stipulation that Buffalo would not use the franchise tag on him again the following season.

 

So Buffalo did what they could to keep him around for one more year. They could have transition tagged him the following year, but they wouldn't have matched the offer anyway.