Franchise Players

At the start of free agency an incredible 21 players were saddled with the franchise tag. As the deadline to sign franchise players to long-term contracts passed yesterday, three of those tagged players remain unsigned: Kansas City Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe, Detroit Lions defensive end Cliff Avril and San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson. Those three are all expected to sign their one-year franchise tenders eventually. They could still cause waves by taking their time and avoiding some or all of training camp. It's unlikely that they'd take their troubles into the regular season and start losing that nice franchise player salary.

Three of the franchise players did reach long-term deals yesterday. Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte and Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee ended months of suspense. In all, 12 of the 21 franchise tagged players signed long term deals:

Ravens: running back Ray Rice (signed 5-year deal)
Bears: running back Matt Forte (4 years)
Jaguars: kicker Josh Scobee (4 years)
Raiders: safety Tyvon Branch (4 years)
Eagles: receiver DeSean Jackson (5 years)
Cardinals: defensive end Calais Campbell (5 years)
Broncos: kicker Matt Prater (4years)
Saints: Drew Brees (5 years)
Titans: safety Michael Griffin (5 years)
Buccaneers: kicker Connor Barth (4 years)
Giants: Sean Weatherford (5 years)
Colts: defensive end Robert Mathis (4years)

These six have signed their franchise tag tenders meaning they'll be playing on a one-year contract at a percentage of the top salaries in the league at their position. They'll return to free agency next year and we start this all over again.

Falcons: cornerback Brent Grimes
Redskins: tight end Fred Davis
Bengals: kicker Mike Nugent
Browns: kicker Phil Dawson
Patriots: receiver Wes Welker
Cowboys: linebacker Anthony Spencer

Some giggled when five kickers and a punter were protected with the franchise tag. It shouldn't be too surprising as it's a cost effective way to keep very good kickers. Now, if teams keep doing this the salary for a kicker will go up pretty quickly and it will no longer be very cost effective.

I don't think that I can recall more than ten franchise tags used in a given year. 21 really is an incredible number. I guess that it's just the way of the new CBA. Perhaps every year moving forward will have similar numbers. It is a convenient way for the teams to further restrict player movement. Teams love it. Players hate it. The players do get a nice payday but they don't get the security of a long term contract. More importantly they don't get that super nice signing bonus that usually comes with a long term deal.