Transition-taggin'

There was mild surprise when the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers used the transition tag to restrict the free agency movement of center Alex Mack and Jason Worilds, respectively. The transition tag hadn't been used since 2006. That's when the Minnesota Vikings poked holes in the process and introduced the term "poison pill" to the NFL contract language. The Vikings used a "poison pill" clause to wrestle transition-tagged guard Steve Hutchinson from the Seattle Seahawks. This clause made Hutchinson's entire $49 million contract guaranteed if the Seahawks matched the Vikings offer. That "pill" was too expensive for the Seahawks. The NFL wasn't too happy with the Vikings. The Seahawks were furious. The funny thing about those bad feelings was that Vikings salary cap guru Rob Brzezinski had warned the NFL of the possibilities of the potential for a "poison pill" well before he took advantage of one. Maybe they should have listened. "Poison pills" have since been banned. Despite that ban, no team has used the transition tag since Seattle tagged Hutchinson until this offseason.

Jason Worilds has signed his transition tag tender so he's with the Pittsburgh Steelers for, at least, another season. Mack is still a free agent with that transition tag leash. Mack recently visited with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Since the tagging season, it's been speculated that the Browns used the transition tag so that other teams could set the market for Mack. The Browns are in a fairly safe spot to do this as they have more than enough cap room to match nearly any offer made by another team. Besides, the Browns are already on the hook for the $10 million price tag called for by the transition tag, That's a pretty steep price for any center so they have already announced that they will match a steep offer. The Oakland Raiders, with their immense salary cap room, are probably the one team that might throw the Browns a scare.

Transition tags do little but kick-start negotiations between a player and the team holding the tag. If a team is ok enough with losing a player that they won't use the more restrictive franchise tag, why tag the player at all? They don't need the relative freedom of the transition tag to set the market for a player. They should already know the market. They certainly should know how much they are willing to spend. Transition tags should just go away. Many thought that they had after the Vikings had revealed some of the early flaws. All of the tags were meant to restrict some player movement despite the freedom of free agency. The franchise tag, with it's two first round pick compensation, still accomplishes that. The transition tag, with no compensation, doesn't really accomplish much of anything. Most teams now have enough of a handle on free agency that they don't really need transition tags anymore to retain players that they really want to keep. They certainly shouldn't need the relative freedom of the transition tag process as a starting point for negotiations with a player.