The franchise tag basically prevents a player from becoming a free agent. A team can apply one of three tags:
- The exclusive-rights franchise tag: The tagged player cannot negotiate with any team other than the one that applied the tag.
- The non-exclusive-rights franchise tag: The tagging team gains the right to match any contract offer. If they decline, they get 2 1st round picks from the signing team as compensation. Normally, in lieu of another team signing the player and forfeiting 2 1st rounders, the two teams will instead agree to a trade.
- The transition tag: The tagging team gains the right to match any contract offer. If they decline, they receive no compensation. For information on why this is a bad tag to use, google Steve Hutchinson poison pill
In practice, the non-exclusive-rights franchise tag is predominantly the one used. For the second year in a row, it was the only tag type used.
When a player is tagged, they are assigned a tender amount as their salary for the upcoming season. They can either sign the tender and lock in that fully guaranteed salary for the season, or attempt to negotiate a long-term contract (almost always with the tagging team).
However, even before the player may sign the tender, that amount of money is counted against the tagging team's cap. The transition tag tender is lower than the non-exclusive-rights franchise tag tender, which itself is lower than the exclusive-rights franchise tender. For QBs, we're talking a difference of $12.8 Million (transition), $14.9 Million (non-exclusive), and around $20 Million (exclusive).
The table below shows which teams used the tag (and on who) prior to last season and before today's deadline (note: all tags in the table below are franchise tags):
Team
|
Franchise/Transition Tag, 2012
|
Franchise/Transition Tag, 2013
|
Buffalo Bills
|
No one
|
S Jarius Byrd
|
Miami Dolphins
|
No one
|
DT Randy Starks
|
New England Patriots
|
WR Wes Welker
|
No one
|
New York Jets
|
No one
|
No one
|
Baltimore Ravens
|
RB Ray Rice
|
No one
|
Cincinnati Bengals
|
K Mike Nugent
|
DE Michael Johnson
|
Cleveland Browns
|
K Phil Dawson
|
No one
|
Pittsburgh Steelers
|
No one
|
No one
|
Houston Texans
|
No one
|
No one
|
Indianapolis Colts
|
DE Robert Mathis
|
P Pat McAfee
|
Jacksonville Jaguars
|
K Josh Scobee
|
No one
|
Tennessee Titans
|
S Michael Griffin
|
No one
|
Denver Broncos
|
K Matt Prater
|
OT Ryan Clady
|
Kansas City Chiefs
|
WR Dwayne Bowe
|
OT Brandon Albert
|
Oakland Raiders
|
S Tyvon Branch
|
No one
|
San Diego Chargers
|
No one
|
No one
|
Dallas Cowboys
|
LB Anthony Spencer
|
LB Anthony Spencer
|
New York Giants
|
P Steve Weatherford
|
No one
|
Philadelphia Eagles
|
WR DeSean Jackson
|
No one
|
Washington Redskins
|
TE Fred Davis
|
No one
|
Chicago Bears
|
RB Matt Forte
|
DT Henry Melton
|
Detroit Lions
|
DE Cliff Avril
|
No one
|
Green Bay Packers
|
No one
|
No one
|
Minnesota Vikings
|
No one
|
No one
|
Atlanta Falcons
|
CB Brent Grimes
|
No one
|
Carolina Panthers
|
No one
|
No one
|
New Orleans Saints
|
QB Drew Brees
|
No one
|
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
|
K Connor Barth
|
No one
|
Arizona Cardinals
|
DE Calais Campbell
|
No one
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
S Dashon Goldson
|
No one
|
Seattle Seahawks
|
No one
|
No one
|
St. Louis Rams
|
No one
|
No one
|
Notice 21 teams used the tag last year. Only 8 used it this year.
Why? Take a look at the tender amounts for 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Position
|
Tag Value, 2011
|
Tag Value, 2012
|
Tag Value, 2013
|
Quarterback
|
$16.1 Million
|
$14.4 Million
|
$14.9 Million
|
Running Back
|
$9.6 Million
|
$7.7 Million
|
$8.2 Million
|
Wide Receiver
|
$11.4 Million
|
$9.4 Million
|
$10.5 Million
|
Tight End
|
$7.3 Million
|
$5.4 Million
|
$6.1 Million
|
Offensive Line
|
$10.1 Million
|
$9.4 Million
|
$9.8 Million
|
Defensive End
|
$13.0 Million
|
$10.6 Million
|
$11.2 Million
|
Defensive Tackle
|
$12.5 Million
|
$7.9 Million
|
$8.5 Million
|
Linebacker
|
$10.1 Million
|
$8.8 Million
|
$9.6 Million
|
Cornerback
|
$13.5 Million
|
$10.6 Million
|
$10.9 Million
|
Safety
|
$8.8 Million
|
$6.2 Million
|
$6.9 Million
|
Kicker/Punter
|
$3.3 Million
|
$2.6 Million
|
$3.0 Million
|
Notice how the values dipped between 2011 and 2012. This happened because the owners fought to rewrite the rules on how to calculate the tenders during the 2011 CBA, which went into effect prior to the 2012 season.
Under the old CBA, the formula was simple: average the top-5 salaries at that position, and you have the tender amount for that position. The new formula was much more complicated: looking at the last 5 seasons, look at how much (as a percentage) of the total cap room was taken up by the tender for the position, then that's your tender amount. Why make things more complicated? Because it drove the cost of the tag tenders down, as you can see above.
One other note on tender amounts: if you tag a player twice, he gets 120% of his salary from last season. Tag him a third time, and it's 144% of his previous season's salary. The Cowboys are running into this with Anthony Spencer this year.
So there you go, everything (if not more than) you wanted to know about the franchise tag.
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