re: Mark Ingram

There is literally a thread talking about exactly this on the first page

We can't trade him. His rookie deal is about to be over. And we can't tag & trade him because....

The franchise tag for RBs last year was 9.5M. It might be a little less this year, but still way above market value. So we will not be tagging him.

I doubt we pay him. His numbers are already pretty ridiculous (YPC wise) and he is getting a lot of pub as a potential top back. He's going to want to get paid. His agent will be pushing for a lot. And it's already public knowledge that they will be testing FA. We are not equipped for a bidding war.

There is very little chance he is on the team next season. We don't have the cap space to pay him what he thinks he deserves. Plus, the fact that he's been terrible before this season but good now tells us that he is not going to be motivated once he gets paid. Also, how many tantrums have we seen him throw over play time? even before this season he was always crying about deserving more play time. Sure, it looks NOW like we should have given him the ball more, but he was borderline terrible before his "break out" game against the Cowboys last season. He's obviously bitter about the way he's been treated here (He's the opposite of Pierre Thomas who relishes the opportunity to be even a small part of the game plan). He will be happy to leave.

We have a more than capable option who is very cheap behind him in Robinson. Or, we could even grab a top-flight back on the 2nd day of the draft seeing as how their draft value has plummeted.

Either way, Ingram's days with this team are numbered. It's unfortunate but that's how the cookie crumbles.