(01-20-2024, 09:12 AM)Newton Wrote: Doesn’t that mean we need to lock Josh Allen up first?

Yes, and there's little reason for Allen to sign a deal, weeks away from free agency unless he loves Jacksonville through and through and is willing to forgo seeing the best offer which would almost certainly only come from multiple offers driving the price up.  

It's easy to imagine Baalke/Pedersen saying, "Hey this is what your market value is, go check Spotrac if you don't believe us, (lol) and here is our offer slightly above that market value" in the hopes that he he feels the market value is genuine and the Jags offer is the highest or very close to the highest he'd see.  It's easy to imagine that, but it shouldn't be the expectation that Allen goes along with that rationale.  His agent will be persuading him not to sign and to wait to see if he can hit free agency.

If I put myself in his shoes, even if I want to stay in Jacksonville, I want to see what the offers are so I can pry as much out of Jacksonville as I possibly can and have a back up plan if that doesn't work out.

That's why the tag will be used on him in my opinion and he'll probably be tagged on the last day eligible unless talks break down before that.  No question Allen is the priority over Ridley with the tag.  Was Ridley's 2023 season all that impressive to the rest of the league to worry about tagging him anyway?  I think if we want him in free agency, we'll be able to sign him without breaking the bank.  Even if that's not the case, you can't risk losing Allen in free agency by tagging Ridley.

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