The NFL’s franchise tag window opens today, giving teams two weeks to decide whether they want to retain one critical player on a one-year, fully guaranteed contract. Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones, and Geno Smith are among the candidates to be tagged in 2022, and they’d be entitled to hefty paydays. But the franchise tag largely keeps premier NFL free agents off the market and depresses player salaries league-wide.
Let’s run through six changes we’d make to the NFL’s franchise tag system, beginning with teams’ ability to tag players multiple times.
6 Changes We Would Make to the NFL Franchise Tag
Allow Each Player To Be Tagged Only Once
Currently, NFL rules enable teams to use the franchise tag up to three times on a single player. In 2022, Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Cam Robinson was assigned the franchise tender for a second consecutive year before eventually signing a long-term extension. This offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs might utilize the tag on tackle Orlando Brown for the second year in a row.
Players do realize the benefit of being tagged multiple times. A second franchise tag comes with a 20% raise over the player’s salary from the previous season. A third tag is especially prohibitive from the team’s point of view, as it’s attached to a 44% raise. No player has been tagged three times since the 2011 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was enacted.
Still, that 20% pay bump for a second franchise tag doesn’t do enough to compensate the player for being unable to reach the open market. If Brown is tagged again this offseason, he’ll have collected roughly $35 million for two seasons of work. Had he been allowed to hit free agency, Brown likely would have secured more guaranteed cash while structuring an extension to lock in additional effective guarantees down the road.
Multiple franchise tags put even more of a strain on former first-round picks, who teams can already retain for an extra season via the fifth-year option. If a prospect enters the NFL at age 22, has his fifth-year option exercised, and receives two franchise tags, he might not become a free agent until his age-29 campaign, significantly reducing his value.
By putting a one-franchise tag limit on each player, teams won’t be able to hold their best assets hostage. Clubs could still retain their top players at a reduced price for one year, but they’d have to start planning for the possibility of losing them the following offseason.
Increase the Franchise Tag Price
The non-exclusive franchise tag — the most commonly used tender — is calculated by averaging the top five cap hits at the position over the previous five years, then adjusting that figure based on the current salary cap.
Instead of using the top five salaries at each position, the NFL should use the top two cap charges. Such a change would not only put more money in franchise-tagged players’ pockets but also require teams to think twice before assigning the tender.
The franchise tag should be reserved for the elite of the elite. By using an average of the top two salaries at each position as the baseline, front offices would be forced to pay franchised players near the very top of the market. As a result, at least a few players that would have been tagged would instead make it to free agency.
Reduce Required Trade Compensation for Non-Quarterbacks
NFL teams can pursue players assigned the non-exclusive franchise tag, but the cost is prohibitively steep. In addition to crafting a contract offer that’s so pricy that the player’s original team won’t match, the new club must also sacrifice two first-round picks to acquire the franchise player.
For quarterbacks, that compensation makes sense. Signal-callers are the most valuable entity in sports, and being required to give up just a single first-rounder — especially if it comes near the end of Round 1 — wouldn’t represent an appropriate price tag.
But for non-quarterbacks, the two-first-round pick requirement isn’t realistic. NFL teams aren’t willing to sacrifice multiple premium selections for players who don’t line up under center.
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For example, Washington Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne is an outstanding interior defender and is likely to be franchise-tagged. As talented as he is, is there a single club that would give Payne a contract offer with $35M+ guaranteed and be willing to give up two first-round picks?
Instead, the franchise tag compensation for non-QBs should be reduced to one first-round selection. Teams losing players would still receive a Day 1 pick in return, but the cost wouldn’t be so exorbitant as to become wholly unrealistic.
Extend or Remove Franchise Tag Extension Deadline
Once a team assigns a player the franchise tag, the two sides have until July 15 to hammer out a long-term extension. Once that date passes, the player must play out the season on the one-year franchise tender.
The NFL could extend this deadline to the start of the regular season, allowing more time for contract negotiations. Teams would still hold most of the leverage, but there’s a chance a lengthier window could lead to more deals getting done.
Alternatively, the league could remove the extension deadline altogether. Teams are allowed to negotiate with franchise players once the regular season ends through to the start of free agency, so why can’t they discuss a potential contract during the season?
Re-Align Positional Values
While most of our proposed changes aim to secure more money for players, re-calibrating the franchise tag positional values wouldn’t necessarily do that.
Still, this is a problem that needs to be solved. Currently, the NFL groups all offensive linemen into one bucket. Because offensive tackles earn much more on average than guards and centers, interior linemen are rarely tagged. That’s a plus for those guards and centers, but lumping all OL into one bucket doesn’t make much sense.
The same goes for edge rushers and off-ball linebackers. If the Buffalo Bills want to tag Tremaine Edmunds this offseason, they’d have to pay him more than $20 million, thus making him the highest-paid off-ball linebacker in the league. That’s because the NFL places linebackers and edge rushers — the latter of whom typically command more money — in the same group.
The Associated Press has finally come around to separating linebackers and edge rushers for All-Pro voting. It’s time for the same changes to come to the franchise tag process.
Eliminate the Franchise Tag Altogether
Instead of making minor tweaks, the NFL could get rid of the franchise tag once and for all.
MLB (qualifying offers) and the NBA (supermax contracts) both have some version of the franchise tag. But neither system forces players to stick with a team like the NFL’s franchise tenders do.
In addition to creating a fairer free agent atmosphere for players, eliminating the franchise tag would have one key benefit — fun!
How exciting would this upcoming offseason be if Jackson were truly allowed to sign with any team? Or if Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, and Tony Pollard weren’t going to be tied to their incumbent teams?
MORE: NFL Franchise Tag Tracker 2023
NFL free agency is already depressed by players inking extensions, and the franchise tag robs us of even more talented players reaching the open market. Watching teams rebuild their rosters in the opening days of the free agent period is already thrilling, but it would be doubly so if the franchise tag didn’t exist.
However, getting rid of the franchise tender probably isn’t realistic. The NFL Players Association didn’t fight to eliminate the tag during discussions for the 2011 or the 2020 CBA. The union had other priorities when negotiating with NFL owners, and the franchise tag nominally only affects a handful of players per year.
Still, while only a few players are assigned the tag each offseason, the franchise tender process does drag down salaries league-wide. With the NFL’s best players unable to sell themselves to all 32 teams and reset positional markets, player salaries up and down the talent spectrum are artificially held in check.
Removing the franchise tag provision could eventually be on the docket for the NFLPA. But the current NFL CBA doesn’t expire until 2030, so the system as we know it will remain in place for the foreseeable future.