L.J. Smith Wants a long Term Deal...

I think I understand this one. L.J. Smith wants a long term contract with the Eagles,but he was hurt most of last year.Now I'm no expert but usually tagging someone as a "franchise player" means they want you but not at the price your worth. In this case it seems to be more of a we don't want you to be a free agent just yet,so we'll just tag you for one more year to see if you are worth a long time deal.Maybe I'm wrong since the reserve tight-ends were a non-factor last year. Maybe the Eagles simply has a wait and see attitude and come this draft, they pick a rookie tight-end just to "shore up" that position...Sounds familiar?