As of Tuesday, NFL teams are allowed to use the franchise tag or transition tag to retain one player due to become a free agent. And for the fifth straight year, the Jacksonville Jaguars are likely to make use of the tag.
The likeliest scenario is that pass rusher Josh Allen will get the tag after posting a career-best 17.5 sacks during the 2023 season. But even if the Jaguars manage to get a deal done with Allen ahead of the March 5 deadline (which seems unlikely), they’d probably instead use the tag to keep wide receiver Calvin Ridley.
The franchise tag is a tool that guarantees a player, at minimum, a one-year fully guaranteed deal that makes them one of the highest paid players at their position. Teams also have until mid-July to sign a multi-year extension with a tagged player.
While Jacksonville has used it in four straight offseasons, the team only used it six times in the more than two decades prior. Here’s the Jaguars’ entire history of using the franchise tag:
2023: TE Evan Engram - $11,345,000
Last offseason, the Jaguars tagged Engram with the hope of eventually securing the tight end to a long-term deal. In July, they got it done. In his first season after signing a three-year, $41.25 million contract, Engram earned Pro Bowl honors by recording the second most receptions an NFL tight end has ever had in a single season.
2022: OT Cam Robinson - $16,662,000
Robinson received the tag in back-to-back years when the Jaguars used it on him in 2021 and 2022. Unlike the year prior, Jacksonville locked down Robinson with a three-year, $54 million extension. Whether he sees the end of that deal is a question that’ll be answered during the 2024 offseason.
2021: OT Cam Robinson - $13,754,000
The Jaguars first used the tag on Robinson when the 2017 second-round pick’s rookie contract ended after the 2020 season. While no long-term deal was negotiated with the offensive tackle, it kept him in Jacksonville long enough to prove he was worth a deal in 2021.
2020: DE Yannick Ngakoue - $17,788,000
Things were already headed downhill for Ngakoue and the Jaguars when he was tagged in 2020. After he held out in 2019, negotiations with the pass rusher broke down and he made it clear after he was tagged that he was ready to leave Jacksonville. Ngakoue was eventually traded to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2021 second-round pick that was eventually used to pick offensive lineman Walker Little.
2012: K Josh Scobee - $2,654,000
The Jaguars seem set to use the tag for a fifth straight year, but you have to go back eight years to find the time they last used it before 2020. Scobee was retained on an extraordinarily cheap franchise tag and eventually signed a four-year extension with the Jaguars later in the offseason. He still stands as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.
2011: TE Marcedes Lewis - $7,285,000
Lewis received the tag from the Jaguars after his rookie contract ended and eventually signed a five-year deal contract extension to stay in Jacksonville. Lewis is third in franchise history in receiving yards and second in touchdown receptions.
2005: S Donovin Darius - $4,968,000
Darius is one of three players in NFL history (along with Hall of Fame tackles Orlando Pace and Walter Jones) to be franchise tagged by a team in three consecutive offseasons. Unlike the previous offseasons, Darius signed a three-year extension with the Jaguars in 2005.
2004: S Donovin Darius - $4,113,000
Darius got the tag for the second time in his career after putting together a career-best year in 2004 with five interceptions, four fumble recoveries, and 89 tackles.
2003: S Donovin Darius - $3,043,000
Darius got the tag for the first time after the 1998 first-round pick’s rookie contract expired.
2000: DE Tony Brackens - $4,253,000
Brackens, who is still 10 sacks ahead of Josh Allen as the franchise’s all-time leader, became the first Jaguars player to ever get tagged. Later in the 2000 offseason, Jacksonville signed the pass rusher to a five-year extension.
