Franchise Tags???

So as you can see from the list of dates I put up yesterday, the first important date that is fast approaching is the deadline for the 'franchise tag' to be applied by the teams to a certain player (25th Feb). But what exactly are these 'Franchise tags'?? A franchise tag is what an NFL team can attach to one particular free agent. We will go into 'free agency' closer to the time of it beginning, but each team will have a certain amount of free agents that if no contract has been agreed by the start of free agency (5th March) they will enter into what is basically a bidding frenzy, with any interested team trying to offer them the best possible deal. The original clubs obviously do not want this happening with their better players, and may therefore decide to apply the 'franchise tag'. This effectivley takes that player off the free agent list, and attaches him to the club for another 12 months. The players do get a good deal out of this situation to. Their salary for that 12 months has to be an average of the top 5 saleries of players that play their position, or 120% of their previous years salary, which ever is greater. So as you can see it can be seen as a win, win situation for both parties. The players though do not like the fact that they can not tie up a long term deal, and this is why they sometimes complain about being 'franchised'.

I hope this has helped to sort out the confusing world of franchise tags. Tomorrow I will put up a list of players that are free agents this year, and you can decide who you would 'franchise' if you were the GM of your team.

If you have any questions or points about franchise tags, or any other NFL issue, please get in touch. Email - nflgbview@googlemail.com or leave a comment.