No Big Deal If the Indianapolis Colts Place the Franchise Tag on Peyton Manning

There has been a lot of hand-wringing around Indiana since Wednesday when Bill Polian said that a new contract for Peyton Manning will "get done when it gets done". With that, "Popeye" cracked open a can of spinach, hoisted Jim Irsay on his shoulders, tooted through his pipe a couple of times, and whisked back inside the Colts' complex, leaving fans and reporters unsatisfied. It wasn't like the risotto, to say the least.

As the Indianapolis Star's Mike Chappell pointed out in his column today, it's looking more and more like the Colts are going to attach the franchise label to their franchise quarterback, and that is what has folks atwitter. The dreaded franchise tag is often seen as punishment for a churlish, but performing, superstar player who won't be reasonable in contract negotiations Whether or not that description fits Manning is a matter for some other debate, but there is no real indication of tension between the two sides. It just seems that things aren't progressing very fast, and the team needs to be ready in case Manning's next contract doesn't get worked out before the March 3 expiration of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement. After that, everyone turns into a pumpkin, and all bets are off.

In reality, the Colts have employed this tactic quite often in the past, using the franchise tag to buy more time for negotiating with their pending free agents. The only time that a player has actually played through the season under the tag was in 2005 before Edgerrin James left town. Manning even got the tag back in 2004 before his last huge contract.

So there's probably not anything to worry about. Worst-case scenario, barring a season-long lockout, is that Manning plays in 2011 for about $23 million and with a chip on his shoulder. Which might not be a bad thing in terms of the the team's success. Maybe a little extra fire would help grease the skids toward an appearance in the hometown Super Bowl.