I can go on pretty much forever about how spare I think this guy is, which he is. And we were just watching different games last year, because Claiborne looked the same as he always has. And he was facing the same difficulties as everyone else on the D the last several years and has still managed to solidify a reputation for being toast more often than not (or hurt). The rest sound like excuses. Too late for those in year 4 (or 3, really).
It would hurt our team to overpay a spare that manages to make a Pro Bowl (and let me know when that actually happens) in year four despite being a first rounder. Roy Williams, anyone? LOL @ Claiborne being a "CB1". He'll be lucky to be a CB2 at his next stop. He wouldn't leave a single hole here, except for maybe at the training table. I'm totally comfortable with A. Brown next season and beyond.
We don't have to give him anything. A tag is only one smart option. The other is letting him walk and occupy somebody's else's training table. That's where it ends, unless the FO wants to go back to 2000-2010 and some of those deals they handed out. I'm not real interested in that.
And your very last sentence tells me you're more of a player fan club, fantasy football GM than a Cowboys fan, which is fine, but I don't identify with that mentality. Kind of ironic, too. Every one of your posts ITT are "RAH RAH, Claiborne". Is this an LSU thing, or something? I don't get it. The LSU players the Cowboys have drafted the last 20 years have pretty much all sucked relative to where they were drafted. A smart move would be to not even consider players from there. They tend to be fat, stupid, and underachieve. I can only expect the FO to make so many smart decisions at once, though.