Wow... I'm exhausted, and I haven't even posted in this thread in a page & a half!
Frank made some very good points in that epic post... and for the most part the debate has been fairly well-spirited...
Let me just say that I knew what I was doing when I put a 2nd round tender on Bulger. Compared to RBs, there are very few QBs who get "market price" for their services. Looking at my cap space, I had to tender at what I thought I could handle, should no one else bid on him. Is he worth more than 2nd round compensation? Yah probably. But isn't the point of RFA tags to hopefully retain players? I'd love to keep him, and hopefully still can for the 2005 season and beyond.
I also believe that it's up to the entire league to ensure that RFA bidding doesn't go "too low." We only have ourselves to blame, if players get signed "significantly below market value." Quite often I'll bid on a player I have no realistic expectation of getting... simply because I don't want him to sell too cheaply.
Now, back to the discussion on "declining" a match... I guess I'm still in the middle left of the debate... since I'm the only who thinks it's okay to decline in a multiple player deal, but not straight up.
So honestly, how do we move forward from here?