David Harris is hoping the franchise tag turns into a long term deal so he can stay with the Jets beyond 2011.
"I love New York. If you’re a defensive player, you’d love to play for the Jets, too," he said. "There’s no coach other than Rex Ryan that I want to play for. He’s a lot of fun. I want to play there the rest of my career."
You might think a higher salary cap would make it more likely that Harris gets a long term deal sooner since the franchise tag places him under Jets control, and the team has other free agents. In reality, though, the smaller the salary cap is in the new CBA, the more likely Harris gets his new contract. By extending Harris, the Jets would likely be able to lower the approximately $10 million hit the franchise tag would require, perhaps substantially, and creates cap space to deal with some of those other free agents.