With 15 teams currently over the NFL’s salary cap, expect another year in which the franchise tag is scarcely applied. No team wants to use the franchise tag because of the costly cap hit for one player, but it’s an option for buying more time to agree on a long-term contract extension that would limit the cap hit in 2023.
Last year, eight players were tagged during the franchise-tag window and only four played under it. Some teams, however, won’t have the option to use the tag because of a messy salary cap. Others will have multiple key free agents and will need to decide which one is worthy of the franchise tag.
For 15 teams, whether because of their specific rosters or financial restrictions, there don’t seem to be any great options for the franchise tag. Those teams are the Panthers, Browns, Lions, Packers, Texans, Colts, Chargers, Rams, Dolphins, Vikings, Patriots, Saints, Jets, Steelers and Titans. For the rest of the league, here is a look at who could get tagged when the franchise window opens Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. Teams have until March 7 to decide whether to apply the franchise tag.
