With the San Francisco 49er playoff run now at an end, the team starts to look toward next season and some difficult decisions are going to have to be made. One particular decision process involves using the franchise tag or not, and deciding which player to potentially use it on. Right now, as Matt Maoicco points out, safety Dashon Goldson and cornerback Carlos Rogers are the two likely candidates. Maiocco says:

Goldson and Rogers tied for the 49ers lead with six interceptions. Both had very good seasons. But Goldson is the player the 49ers would franchise because it would cost less and they currently have nobody on the team to take his spot if he were to leave. The franchise tag for safeties is expected to be $6.2 million for one year. The tag for cornerbacks will be around $10.6 million. So it would cost more than $4 million extra for the 49ers to franchise Rogers over Goldson. Plus, the 49ers have nobody behind Goldson to take his spot. The 49ers' third safety this past season was Reggie Smith, who is also scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent. A team source told CSNBayArea.com that the day after the season, the sides reached an understanding that Smith would look for an opportunity elsewhere. The 49ers are likely to sign another veteran safety to a minimum-type of contract and/or select a backup safety in the draft.

With both players voicing their desire to stay with the team the franchise tag might not even prove a necessity, but if it does come to that, it's interesting to note that there is very little depth behind Goldson at the safety position right now. If Goldson were to leave in free agency, it could leave the 49ers elite defense scrambling and cause potential problems. Hence, this speculation that they may trump that option. It will be interesting to see what comes of this and more as the offseason gets underway.

For more on the 49ers, check out Niners Nation.