First off, a confession--much like Fearless Leader, I am a big fan of the site Pro Football Focus. They have great advanced stats, informative writers, and they cover pro football in a way that is unique and very 'Moneyball'-ish.

But today, they published a list of players they think will be given the franchise tag. On that list, they listed our own Phil Loadholt as a 'probable'.

In their argument, they make a couple of good points:

Loadholt hasn’t been a great all-around tackle for the Vikings, but he’s excelled in the area that matters most to Minnesota. Since 2011, Joe Staley is the only tackle with a higher run block grade than Loadholt (+27.1). Considering the Vikings’ emphasis on the running game (and the fact they’re paying less than $10 million per season combined for Matt Kalil and PFF All-Pro center John Sullivan), committing $9.7 million to their right tackle makes sense.