Franchising Brandon Mebane

A common suggestion this offseason for the Seahawks front office is to retain the services of Brandon Mebane via the franchise tag. On the surface this makes a great deal of sense. Mebane is a 26-year-old, disruptive defensive tackle that was a standout on a 2011 line that had talent issues. That's the kind of young, skilled player teams want to keep around.

Things get a little murkier once you take a look at current tag numbers.

Assuming there's a CBA in place and current tag rules are upheld, the Seahawks could be facing a very expensive decision should they choose to go that route. Courtesy of Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network, here's a look at the expected franchise-tag salaries for this offseason based on position:

Quarterbacks: $16 million ($16.4 million in 2010)
Running backs: $9.5 million ($8.15 million in 2010)
Wide receivers: $11.3 million ($9.5 million in 2010)
Tight ends: $7.3 million ($5.9 million in 2010)
Offensive linemen: $10.1 million ($10.7 million in 2010)
Defensive ends: $12.9 million ($12.4 million in 2010)
Defensive tackles: $12.5 million ($7 million in 2010)
Linebackers: $10 million ($9.7 million in 2010)
Cornerbacks: $14 million ($9.6 million in 2010)
Safeties: $8.8 million ($6.5 million in 2010)
*Kickers: $3.1 million ($2.8 million in 2010)

Thanks to Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins, the Seahawks could expect to pay $12.5 million if they were to franchise Mebane. While we don't know what a new CBA would mean to salary caps yet, we can acknowledge that would be a pretty sizable chunk of payroll.

*$3.1 million to slap the tag on a kicker? Ouch.

Let's go ahead and poll this one.