Tag days underway … The official start of the new football year is still several weeks away, but things are already starting to percolate as today’s is the first day that teams can tag any impending free agents as either franchise or transition players prior to the start of free agency. Players who gets a non-exclusive franchise designation for the first or second time and actually sign their tag are guaranteed a salary representing the average of the top five players at his position over the last five years or 120 percent of their current salary, while players tagged for a third time get a salary that is 144 % their current salary. Non-exclusive franchise players can still negotiate with other teams, but their current teams can match the offer or they would get two first-round picks as compensation. Meanwhile, an exclusive franchise tag pays the average of the top five salaries for the current year and bars negotiation with other teams. Players designated as transition players are guaranteed the average of the top 10 salaries at their position, but are free to negotiate with other teams; if they sign elsewhere, their original team has the right to match other offers, but would not receive compensation if they chose not to match. The tag window closes on March 8th and the new NFL year starts on March 16th.
