Schaub To Be Tenderized Highly

Thursday is the day to tender restricted free agents (RFAs). The two most coveted ones are Atlanta quarterback Matt Schaub and San Diego running back Michael Turner. It looks like Schaub will get the high tender according to Steve Wyche. Meanwhile, Turner is a "unique situation" according to Lee Rasizer.
Some other RFAs of note are Dolphins receiver Wes Welker, Raiders DT Tommy Kelly, Indy's TE Ben Utecht,
Saints tackle Jon Stinchcomb, Jacksonville's Bobby McRay, the Chiefs' Jared Allen.
Restricted free agents are players with three accrued seasons and an expired contract. An RFA can negotiate with other teams until April 20. If a deal is struck, the RFAs original team has a chance to match the offer and retain the player. If the original team opts not to match, the RFA goes to the team that offered him but compensation in the form of draft picks goes to the original team based on the RFA level the player is "tendered" at. A high tender, which Schaub is, would mean a matching team coughs up a first and third-round pick in the draft. A medium tender loss would be compensated with a first-round pick and a low-tender offer nets a second-rounder. The corresponding salaries for the three tender levels are: high - $2.35 million, medium - $1.85 million; low - $1.3 million.

In other news...

"At one point, a black wig flew up into the air." You've come a long way, baby.

The heat gets turned up on the Bears front office as Carol Slezak drops the race card on the table. And while this blog isn't a fan of overpaying just because everyone else does, the point about Chicago paying Brian Urlacher while franchising Lance Briggs (and letting Rosey Colvin leave altogether) does leave dots to be connected.

Daniel Graham is ready to show his wares writes Albert Breer.