Chris Long and James Laurinaitis-possible free agents

[brokeu91]

Hello Kevin,

Thanks for coming to this forum and answering our questions.

Is there any headway in contract extensions with Chris Long and James Laurinaitis? Has there been some hesitancy to lock them up before now, because of the possibility that they may not perform as well in the new defensive system? How big will their cap numbers be if they aren't signed and they get a franchise tag?

 

[kdemoff]

We continue to talk with the agents for Chris and James in hopes of getting a deal done with both of them. There is no hesitancy to extend their contracts, they've both earned new contracts and we would be excited to keep them in horns for a long time. Our coaching staff and personnel group believe in both players and expect them to be both strong players and leaders for our team moving forward.

The franchise numbers are not known for the LB and DE spot yet, but in all honesty, there is no chance we would franchise Chris Long as his franchise number would be north of $21m. We've planned carefully to make sure we have the opportunity to keep both players with us next year by having the salary cap room in 2013 to absorb both contract extensions.