Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes will receive his team's franchise tag, Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff announced Friday morning on 790 The Zone.
In five seasons with Atlanta, Grimes has started 42 games, rising from a special teams player to a permanent fixture for the Falcons' defense and racking up 216 tackles and 13 interceptions. Dimitroff said that he feels comfortable with Grimes' ability within the Falcons system on 790, and cited his development with the team.
Grimes' salary number with the franchise tag will be estimated to be around $10.2 million for one season. Grimes finished the 2011 season with 49 tackles and one interception.
Dimitroff acknowledged that team was close on a contract with defensive end Kroy Biermann, that negotiations were still ongoing with middle linebacker Curtis Lofton but that progress hadn't been made at the moment. Dimitroff also said that work was not being done currently at restructuring the contract of Matt Ryan.
When asked if free agent defensive end John Abraham could come back the Falcons at numbers higher than $8 million or more (Abraham has stated he's expecting near $10 million annually), Dimitroff declined to comment, but said that the team hopes to have him back.
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