The Atlanta Falcons have until July 16th to make a decision on whether or not to extend cornerback Brent Grimes beyond the one-year franchise tag they placed on him back in April that will pay him $10.2 million for the 2012 NFL season.
If the two sides can't agree to a long-term deal in time, Grimes will become a free-agent in 2013 and will have an opportunity to gauge his value on the open market.
CBS Sports NFL Insider, Jason La Canfora, broke down Grimes -- and other players and teams around the league -- and the Falcons chances of coming to terms and gave the odds of the two sides reaching an agreement at "fair."
But they did just trade for Asante Samuel, and they restructured Robinson's deal in a way that essentially lets them wait and see on him for a year and then could cut ties. So, say six months from now, they may have considerably less money allocated to the corner position than they do right now, and Grimes is going to command top dollar. There isn't a threat of any holdouts or distractions, as Grimes already signed his tender, so if a deal isn't done by mid July it's not the end of the world.
For more on the Atlanta Falcons and Sean Witherspoon check out The Falcoholic. For more news and notes from around the NFL head over to SB Nation's NFL page.