What Does the Franchise Tag Mean in the NFL?

The franchise tag is a designation given by the NFL to a player that is among the top at his position. It allows teams to keep the player for one year at a salary that is the average of the top 5 salaries at that position.

Introduction

In the National Football League (NFL), the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of their contract. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are not met.

What is the Franchise Tag?

In the National Football League, the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are not met.

The Exclusive Franchise Tag

The exclusive franchise tag is just what it sounds like. If a team tags a player with this designation, no other team in the league can sign him to an offer sheet. The player is effectively taken off the market. The only way he can change teams is if he’s traded.

The exclusive tag is the most common type of franchise tag. It’s also the most expensive, as it comes with a one-year salary that’s the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position, or 120 percent of his previous salary, whichever is greater.

The Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag

In non-exclusive tag cases, teams can elect to use the tag on a player, which prevents that player from signing with another team. If the player does not sign the tender, he is free to negotiate with any team in the league. However, if he signs the tender with his current team, he is not allowed to negotiate with any other team during that season and will earn a salary that is no lower than the average of the five highest-paid players at his position, or 120 percent of his previous salary – whichever is greater.

The Transition Tag

In addition to the franchise tag, there is also the transition tag. The transition tag can be used on impending free agents who have received a qualifying offer from their current team. The transition tag guarantees the player a one-year contract worth the average of the top 10 salaries at the player’s position, or 120 percent of the player’s previous salary — whichever is greater.

However, unlike the franchise tag, the transition tag does not prevent other teams from signing the player to an offer sheet. If another team makes an offer to a player with the transition tag, his current team has seven days to match that offer. If they choose not to match it, they will receive no compensation if he signs elsewhere.

The transition tag can be used in consecutive years, but it is seldom used as a long-term solution because it is so disadvantageous to the player. In most cases, teams will only use the transition tag as a placeholder while they work on a long-term contract extension with the player.

How is the Franchise Tag Calculated?

Here we will discuss how the franchise tag is calculated in the NFL. The franchise tag is a tool that NFL teams can use to keep key players from leaving as free agents. It is a one-year contract offer that is the average of the five highest-paid players at the player’s position, or 120 percent of the player’s salary from the previous year, whichever is greater.

Average of the Five Highest-Paid Players at the Position

In the NFL, the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are not met.

The franchise tag gives the team a chance to keep the player for another year while contractual negotiations continue for a long-term deal. It also allows the team to trade the player, if desired. Players can be tagged as either exclusive or non-exclusive franchise players.

The amount of the franchise tag is calculated by taking the average of the five highest-paid players at the position, plus $100,000. For example, if the average salary of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL is $10 million, then any quarterback who is tagged as an exclusive franchise player would be guaranteed $10.1 million for that season.

Average of the Previous Year’s Salary Cap

In order to come up with the franchise tag number, the NFL takes the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position from the previous year. So, for a quarterback in 2020, the franchise tag number would be calculated by taking the average of the top five quarterback salaries from 2019.

Pros and Cons of the Franchise Tag

The franchise tag is a tool that NFL teams can use to keep players from leaving via free agency. It’s a one-year contract that pays the player an average of the top five salaries at his position. The tag can be used on players who are set to become free agents.

Pros

The franchise tag gives NFL teams a way to keep prized free agents from leaving via free agency. By tagging a player, a team locks him in for one season at a salary that is no less than the average of the top five salaries at his position, or 120 percent of his salary from the previous season, whichever is greater. The tag prevents players from testing the free-agent market and negotiating with other teams.

Players who are unhappy with their franchise tag salary often hold out for a better deal, which can put a strain on their relationship with the team. In some cases, players have even sit out an entire season rather than play under the tag.

Cons

-The player may not sign a long-term deal with his current team, meaning he will become a free agent the following year.
-The player may sign a one-year contract with another team, but his old team has the right to match the offer and keep him. If the old team decides not to match, it receives two first-round draft picks as compensation.
-The player may sign a one-year contract with his old team for an amount that is the average of the top five salaries at his position, or 120% of his salary from the previous year, whichever is greater.

Conclusion

The franchise tag is a tool that allows NFL teams to retain one of their pending free agents for one more season, at a salary that is determined by the average of the top-five salaries at the player’s position, or 120% of the player’s previous salary — whichever is greater. The franchise tag can be used on players with expiring contracts who have accrued four or more years of service time. Players who have been franchised can still negotiate a long-term deal with their team or sign a one-year contract with another team, but if they do neither, they must play the following season under the terms of the franchise tag.