NFL franchise tag tracker: Lamar Jackson? Tony Pollard? Which superstar could be first off the board?
Today, the NFL franchise tag window has officially opened. Each season, many teams use the franchise tag on pending free agents that they can't come to terms with on a long-term contract.
Window for teams to apply the franchise tags on their free-agents is opened today
Attached are the tag numbers
Candidates to be tagged include:
#Ravens Lamar Jackson
#Seahawks Geno Smith
#Cowboys Tony Pollard
#Commanders Daron Payne
#Jaguars Evan Engram
#Chiefs Orlando Brown https://t.co/mvGcS9qF6V
Many players prefer not to be tagged as it doesn't guarantee any long-term security as they are on a one-year deal.
Each position has a different value. The QB position holds the highest value at $32 million this season and second is the linebacker tag at $20.9 million. The lowest value for a franchise tag positon is kicker/punter at $5.3 million.
Below are the positional values for the franchise tag this year.
As always, a QB tag tops the list. twitter.com/adamschefter/s… https://t.co/J0H0UCJNrJ
There are many candidates to be tagged this offseason. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, running backs Tony Pollard, Josh Jacobs, and Saquon Barkley, tight ends Dalton Schultz and Evan Engram, and many other players are expected to possibly receive the franchise tag.
The two most likely candidates to be tagged are Jackson and Pollard. It's been known for a few weeks that Dallas is almost guaranteed to tag Pollard as they're already paying Ezekiel Elliot a ton of money.
The Ravens are having a tough time coming to a long-term deal with Jackson and will at least tag and trade him if a deal is not reached.
What is the franchise tag and how does it work?
The NFL franchise tag is a designation where a team is allowed to pick one player on their team that is set to be a free agent and guarantees another year under contract if certain conditions are met between the two.
The player gets paid the top-five salaries at that player’s position or 120% of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever holds more value.
Players can be tagged more than once. If they get tagged a second time, they get paid 120% of their salary the year before. If they get tagged for a third time consecutively, they'll get either 144% of the second-year tag salary, 20% of the average of the five highest salaries at their respective position or the average of the top-five salaries.
The tag also has a two-week window from Feb. 21 through March 7.
Players can also sit out due to getting tagged. They could forfeit their salary for the year like Le'Veon Bell did, but they can opt not to play if they are tagged.
Once it's March 7, teams can no longer use the tag. Free agency begins a week later on March 15 with the legal tampering period beginning two days earlier.