NFL teams can start using the franchise tag today. This is a really big deal for the Patriots this year. Wilfork is a free agent, and is looking for a lucrative long term deal. To me it is not a question of if Wilfork will be tagged, but when.
The Patriots have until Feb 25th to franchise him, so I would expect that they are going to take up until that day to do it. They might try to work out a deal, but I am not very optimistic. What I think will happen will be the Patriots will franchise him (he'll make about $8MM next year), but I think they will go beyond that and do an exclusive tag, which will cost more, but Wilfork will lose the ability to talk to other teams (the Ravens did this with Suggs last year).
From Wilfork's quotes earlier this offseason you would think that there is no way he is going to show up without a new deal, but what choice does he have. Even if he holds out the Patriots can just franchise him again the following season. Sucks to be Wilfork, but he is going to make a ton of money anyways, and NFL contract lengths really don't matter, since they are all basically not guaranteed.
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