Rob Phillips: Top Safety, Ryan Guy Off The Market

[Cr122]

Posted by ​

rphillips

at 3/1/2012 4:27 PM CST on dallascowboys.com​

IRVING, Texas --

Where safety ranks on the Cowboys' offseason priority list remains to be seen, but Tyvon Branch -- one of the position's top free agents who played his rookie season under Rob Ryan in 2008 -- will reportedly receive the franchise tag from Oakland.

The 25-year-old Branch had 80 tackles, four pass breakups, one sack and one interception for the Raiders last season. The franchise tag for safeties is somewhere between $6 and $7 million.

The Cowboys signed Gerald Sensabaugh to a five-year, $22.5 million extension in December, but fellow starter Abram Elam is a free agent. The club has seemed reluctant to hand out big safety contracts since Ken Hamlin's six-year, $39 million deal in 2008 -- he was waived two years later -- and hasn't drafted one higher than the fourth round (Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, 2010) since Roy Williams went 8th overall in 2002.​

 

[Cr122]

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on March 1, 2012, 4:58 PM EST​

New Raiders G.M. Reggie McKenzie is currently in slash-and-burn mode. But there are some Raiders that he wants to keep.​

Jason La Canfora of NFL Network reports that safety Tyvon Branch has been informed he will receive the franchise tag.DeSean Jackson was the first player this year to officially get the tag on Thursday.​

We’d argue that Branch is the best player in the Raiders secondary. The franchise number for safeties is relatively reasonable (under $7 million), so the move makes sense. This eliminates any consideration of Michael Bush for the tag.​

It raises some question about whether the Raiders will retain safety Michael Huff, who is due to make $8 million in 2012. $4 million is guaranteed for Huff, so we’d guess that the team will keep Huff. (We also would have guessed the team would keep Kamerion Wimbley. And that’s not looking too likely.)​

Branch is a ferocious hitter than can cover a lot of ground. Raiders fans don’t seem overly impressed with McKenzie’s moves so far, but we suspect they will like this one. They should.​