Cleveland Browns set to bind ML D'Qwell Jackson as NFL franchise tag window opens until March 5 – NFL News
The franchise tag window opportunity for all the 32 teams around the American professional football league, National Football League (NFL), is set to begin today (Monday), February 20, 2012.
It will close down on March 05, 2012, providing all the teams in the meantime with an opportunity of tagging their players with the binding of staying at the teams they are currently with for another year, before they become free agency on running out of
their respective deals.
A player is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent if his deal is not renewed by his team management and in that case only option for the team to restrict the player’s movement to another team is to bind him with the franchise tag.
This makes the player keep playing for his team for a period of atleast one year without hitting free agency market. Another option is a transition tag, which leaves a player in transition phase and can possibly seek a window of joining another outfit on
the league.
Each team has a one franchise tag opportunity, which allows them retaining of a player to their side despite that his contract is expired.
For example, the Cleveland Browns, have this year decided to allot franchise tag to their Middle Linebacker, D'Qwell Jackson, whose deal is running out in the near future.
The player is set to earn $8.8 million during his one year stay at Cleveland, almost double to his previous year’s pay of about $4.5 million.
Jackson is apparently seeking a long-term deal from his team and the franchise tag time will provide with him the chance of negotiations on his longer-run prospects with the tea management.
"We're looking for a long-term deal and that's what both parties would like to accomplish before free agency starts on March 13,'' the player’s agent, Brian Mackler, said.
Browns have not disclosed if they were to designate an exclusive or non-exclusive tag to him. In both cases he can expect his salary during the tag year to be in range of top five salaries at his position.
The only difference in case of the non-exclusive tag, he will have the option of negotiating a deal with any other team on the NFL, and it will be then upto his team management to either match the terms he is being offered from another team or stand losing
him to the team.
As per rules of the franchise tag, the player can choose to not play for Browns and become free agency or the team has the choice of removing his designated tag anytime during the year, and let him be free agent.
It is not necessary that the tag has to be for the period of one year, it can be spread of over two and more years.
In a majority of cases franchise tag is designated to highly skilled and performing players, who the team can strategically keep off the free agency market while it looks to replace him with a draft recruit or signing of another player from any other NFL
team.
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