Today is Feb 21st and that means teams can slap the franchise tag on players. It's important to recognize the difference between the Exclusive and Non-Exclusive tags. Here is a pretty good article about the tags.
What is an NFL franchise tag? The difference between exclusive and non-exclusive tags
By Mark Puleo and Jeff Howe
Feb 20, 2023
The NFL franchise tag is a buzzy phrase during the football offseason. It’s one of professional sports’ quirkiest contracts, a type of deal that is unique to the NFL.
For some players, being franchise tagged is an achievement, a designation of inclusion into the league’s upper echelon. For many others, it’s a disappointing hindrance in securing a long-term deal.
Here’s everything you need to know about it ahead of the 2023 season deadline opening on Feb. 21:
What is the franchise tag?
A franchise tag is a one-year contract that every NFL team is allowed to issue once per offseason. It allows a franchise to strategically retain a player on a guaranteed deal with a non-negotiated salary. It can only be used on players set to become unrestricted free agents. Here are the two types of franchise tags:
Exclusive tags prohibit a player from negotiating with another team and guarantee the player a salary based on the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position during that current year, or for 120 percent of the player’s previous salary, whichever number is higher.
Non-exclusive tags allow a player to negotiate with other teams. If a player on a non-exclusive tag agrees to a deal with a new team, the original team can match it or refuse and be awarded two first-round picks as compensation. The salary on a non-exclusive tag is determined by the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position from the previous five years applied to the current salary cap, or for 120 percent of the player’s previous salary, whichever number is higher.
The combination of a cheaper salary and the steep price of two first-round picks has made the non-exclusive tag the more popular option for teams to use. Teams also use the tags as a negotiation strategy for drawing big trade offers out of other teams.A player can be franchise tagged for consecutive seasons. The tag gets more expensive with each consecutive season, as a player is guaranteed at least 120 percent of his first franchise tag in year two. If a player is tagged for three consecutive seasons, he gets either 120 percent of the average of the top five salaries at the position, 144 percent of his second franchise tag salary or the average of the top five salaries for the highest-paid position in the league (which is always quarterbacks). Whatever number is highest becomes the player’s new salary.
Prior to the change to make consecutive franchise tags more costly, Seahawks offensive tackle Walter Jones was tagged in three consecutive offseasons before holding out for a long-term deal. The 2006 collective bargaining agreement amended the franchise tag following Jones’ case, making it much more expensive to tag a player for a third time.
Who benefits from the franchise tag?
The franchise tag has long been viewed as a favorable stipulation for team owners and general managers. It minimizes long-term risk for team builders by allowing them to keep a desired player on a one-year deal. If the player gets injured or their performance falters, the team can let them walk or re-sign them at a lower rate.
Among players, the tag is generally unpopular. Stars hoping to secure a long-term contract are restricted in their negotiations by the tag, as players don’t have an official way to refuse.
Players who have resisted the franchise tag
Some players have fought back against being franchise tagged and have resorted to holding out during training camp and even extending that into the season in some cases. Here are a few of the most notable cases:
Le’Veon Bell: Maybe the most famous instance, Bell took his fight against the franchise tag further than any other player in recent history. After looking for a big deal from the Steelers in 2018, Pittsburgh tagged him and Bell refused to play without long-term contract assurance. Bell sat out the entire season and then got the four-year contract he was looking for from the Jets in 2019.
Davante Adams: After being tagged by the Packers in 2022, Adams threatened to repeat Bell’s boycott and sit out if he didn’t receive an extension or was traded. He was subsequently dealt to Las Vegas, where he received a five-year contract worth record-breaking money.
Yannick Ngakoue: A third-round pick by Jacksonville, Ngakoue posted 37 1/2 sacks through his first four seasons to outplay his contract. After skipping offseason workouts in 2018 in protest over not getting a new deal, Ngakoue requested a trade from Jacksonville. But the Jaguars instead placed the franchise tag on him after 2019, leading to a war of words with the front office. Ngakoue refused to sign the tag and threatened to skip games before Jacksonville traded him to Minnesota.
Sean Gilbert: Over 20 years before Bell’s season-long boycott, Gilbert pulled the move first. After acquiring him in a trade for the No. 6 pick in the 1996 NFL Draft, Washington sought to place the franchise tag on Gilbert after his Pro Bowl season. But Gilbert refused to play under the tag, sitting out the entire 1997 season. After tagging him again the next offseason, Gilbert objected and asked for arbitration. The Panthers would later offer him the long-term deal he wanted, and Washington was awarded two first-round picks as compensation for not matching.
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History of the franchise tag
This 2023 offseason marks the 30th anniversary of the franchise tag. It was first introduced in 1993 through the NFL’s fourth-ever CBA after the players association sought to create a form of free agency. NFL owners, in turn, were looking to install a salary cap.
The policy was first referred to as the “Elway Rule,” as the concept came about after Broncos owner Pat Bowlen refused to sign the CBA due to fears of losing his star quarterback to free agency. The tag was initially only used for quarterbacks in order to keep the franchise’s most important players from leaving. Over time, the franchise tagging strategy has shifted from superstars to targeting breakout players in order to keep them from under team control.
Notable franchise tag candidates this offseason
The most high-profile tag candidates are quarterbacks Lamar Jackson (Ravens), Daniel Jones (Giants) and Geno Smith (Seahawks), running backs Saquon Barkley (Giants), Josh Jacobs (Raiders) and Tony Pollard (Cowboys), along with Chiefs left tackle Orlando Brown and Jaguars tight end Evan Engram.
The Ravens will tag Jackson at $32.416 million if they can’t reach a long-term deal, which surely seems possible considering the sides have negotiated for two years without a resolution. This could open the rare possibility of another team signing Jackson to an offer sheet at the potential cost of two first-round picks, which would be less than the Broncos (Russell Wilson) and Browns (Deshaun Watson) traded for quarterbacks last year. Or the Ravens could simply match the offer sheet and put this saga to an end.
Jones and Smith are interesting candidates as well because each is coming off career seasons. All parties involved would prefer a long-term deal to the tag, but the Giants and Seahawks must weigh the cost of extending the player against the risk of starting over at the game’s most important position. Neither team is expected to be in the range of one of the draft’s top-three QB prospects: Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud or Kentucky’s Will Levis.
Similarly, the Raiders and Giants must have wide eyes when looking at the value of keeping a star running back for $10.091 million. (Of course, the Giants can’t tag both Jones and Barkley, so their call is more complicated.) Jacobs led the NFL last season with 1,653 rushing yards and 2,053 yards from scrimmage. Barkley was fourth with 1,312 rushing yards and seventh with 1,650 yards from scrimmage. The tag would make them the ninth highest-paid player at their position in terms of average annual value.
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Pollard has been the Cowboys’ best back for a couple of years, but they’ve also got Ezekiel Elliott on the books for a $16.72 million cap hit in 2023. It’s unrealistic to think they’d tie up nearly $27 million in two running backs, so Elliott’s deal will almost certainly be restructured regardless of the Pollard tag decision.
The Chiefs, coming off their second Super Bowl in four years, acquired Brown in 2021 in their effort to revamp their offensive line. The plan worked, so they won’t be giving up one of the league’s premier left tackles. The unique element with Brown, though, is that he played on the tag last season, so he’d earn 120 percent of his 2022 contract, which equates to nearly $20 million. A tag would give Brown the leverage in subsequent contract negotiations.
Engram had the best season of his career and clicked with quarterback Trevor Lawrence during the late-season run. The $11.345 million tag isn’t overly obstructive, but the Jaguars have to move around a lot of money to be cap compliant. It’s also shaping up to be a good draft to need a tight end, so the Jags could go the more frugal route.
Defensively, the biggest names on the tag watch are Bengals safety Jessie Bates and Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne.
Bates played on the tag last season, though, so a $17.352 million price in 2023 feels unlikely unless it’s a placeholder for an imminent extension. That’d be the fourth-highest number at the position in average annual value.
The Commanders decided in recent years to heavily invest in their defensive line, using first-round picks upfront from 2017 to 2020. Payne, the No. 13 pick in 2018, is coming off his best season, and the Commanders shouldn’t let him hit free agency.
https://theathletic.com/4219776/2023/02/20/nfl-franchise-tag-rules-definition-deadline/
