The 2022 NFL season is done and dusted but don’t drop your shoulders NFL enthusiasts, as the drama just never ends in the football world. As soon as a season ends, speculations about how the teams will restructure themselves and which college players will end up making the cut at the draft begins.
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However, amidst all this, one query that generally gets heavily searched by intrigued NFL fans is “What exactly is a franchise tag?” Well, it isn’t something very complicated, but yes, it is an NFL term which is absolutely hated by the majority of footballers.
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What is a franchise tag & can a player reject it?
In simple words, a franchise tag is a tool to keep a player on the roster for one more season who is scheduled to become a free agent. NFL teams typically make use of the tag to buy time in order to negotiate a deal that can help them keep their star player in the team for more seasons.
Once a team decides to franchise tag a player, they are given a July 15 deadline to figure out a fresh extension contract. However, if the player and the team still can’t agree on a deal, the player receives the franchise tag salary for the coming season.
As far as the franchise tag salary is concerned, it is determined either by taking the average of salaries of the top 5 highest earning players at that position, or by giving 120% of the tagged player’s current salary, whichever is higher. Despite the fact that several players have resisted signing franchise tags by not attending training camps and by even missing the regular season, they officially do not have the option to opt against it.
Franchise tagging a player twice is not a very intelligent move
There are basically two types of franchise tags, exclusive and non-exclusive tags. While exclusive tags prevent players from negotiating deals with other NFL teams, the players do end up earning more than what a non-exclusive franchise tagged player does.
A player under exclusive franchise tag receives the average current salary of the top 5 earning players on that particular position. However, a non-exclusive franchise tagged player’s salary is counted by calculating the average salary count of top 5 earning players over the last 5 years.
As far as franchise tagging a player on more than one occasion is concerned, teams can take that call but it ends up costing them a lot of money. For instance, a player who gets franchise tagged for the second consecutive time, gets 120% of the salary he received in the first year when he was tagged.
All in all, franchise tags are frustrating for players as they do not like to delay the process of getting a new contract.
