It’s Tagging Time

The window for teams to apply the franchise tag to one of their pending free agents opened yesterday. The window will remain open until March 7. The franchise tag is one of the oldest and last means for teams to restrict the movement of their players. Last year, seven teams took advantage of the franchise tag.

Cincinnati Bengals: Jesse Bates, S, $12.9111 million

Cleveland Browns: David Njoku, TE, $10, 931 million

Dallas Cowboys: Dalton Schultz, TE, $10.931 million

Green Bay Packers: Davante Adams, WR, $20.415 million

Jacksonville Jaguars: Cam Robinson, OT, $16.662 million

Kansas City Chiefs: Orlando Brown, OT, $16.662 million

Miami Dolphins: Mike Gesicki, TE: $10.931 million

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Chris Godwin, WR: $19.179 million

David Njoku, Cam Robinson, and Chris Godwin wound up signing long-term extensions. Davante Adams signed a long-term extension after being traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. Jesse Bates, Dalton Schultz, Orlando Brown, and Mike Gesicki played the 2022 season on the tag. 

This year, a couple of the top candidates to be tagged play the position for which the franchise tag was originally intended. The quarterback. In 1993, with free agency finally inevitable, Pat Bowlen feared that he’d lose John Elway. He feared that loss so much that he refused to support any form of free agency without some mechanism to keep his “franchise” player. The archaic “franchise tag” has survived several CBAs and remains a powerful tool for teams to control player movement. Here are some of this year’s top candidates to have their movement controlled by their current teams. 

Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens

Daniel Jones, QB, New York Giants

Daron Payne, DT, Washington Commanders

Orlando Brown, OT, Kansas City Chiefs

Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants

Jordan Poyer, S, Buffalo Bills

Evan Engram, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars

Josh Jacobs, Las Vegas Raiders

The Kansas City Chiefs and Orlando Brown really need to find a table and stay at it until something gets done. A second year on the franchise tag feels inevitable despite a clear a mutual interest in staying together. 

I was hoping that Daron Payne could magically be placed on the Minnesota Vikings 2023 roster, and beyond. It was a dream. It was a beautiful dream. He has yet to be tagged but Payne staying in Washington for at least the coming season feels like a done deal. 

It’s tagging time.