Before the launch of the Free Agency in mid-March, the NFL will first have to meet a different deadline. In February, teams can award one franchise day each to bind a player with expiring contracts before the Free Agency starts for another year. But what variants are there? How much does the day cost? And which players can expect to receive the franchise day?
Teams have changed from 20. February to 6. March Time to allocate a player with the franchise or transition day. The Franchise Day gives teams a valuable tool to prevent a top player from coming onto the market and possibly creating a betting offer.
It is an opportunity for the teams to keep a selected top performer, even though their contract expires and it was not possible to agree with them on a new contract. The franchise day was introduced in 1993, together with the salary cap, it is one of the measures to enable the smaller teams in particular to keep stars and to ensure a better balance.
The franchise day saves at least time for the teams: a player who has received the day can take up to 16th place this year. At 10 p. m. in July at 10 p. m. German time a long-term contract was signed. Without that day, it would be on the market from mid-March.
If there is no agreement on a long-term contract until this deadline, the player goes into the season under the day and with it the determined salary. A team can also give a player the franchise day in two consecutive seasons, as just happened in Washington with Kirk Cousins. In this case, however, 120 percent of the previous year’s salary is due in the second year – an expensive pleasure that teams rarely can afford.
Franchise day is not the same as franchise day – there are three different categories. If a player receives the exclusive day, he/she cannot negotiate with any other team and cannot play for another team in the coming season. Unless the team pulls back the day, like the Carolina Panthers a few years ago at Cornerback Josh Norman. He immediately became a Free Agent and moved to Washington. The annual salary for the exclusive franchise day results from the average of the five highest salaries on the player’s position for that season, or the day gives the player 120 percent of their own previous year’s salary. Whichever is higher.
The annual salary is calculated from the average of the five highest salaries on the position in question over the past five years – i. e. in times of rising salary caps, you get less than on the exclusive day, and in return you can negotiate with other teams under this day, similar to the NBA. However, if you sign a so-called “offer sheet” – simply put, an offer – with the competition, your own team may draw level with the competition and thus retain the player. If you let him draw, you get two first round picks as compensation. A proud price that is rarely paid.
The Transition Tag is the weakest version of the Franchise Tag. The player gets the average of the ten best paid players on his position, which is lower than the other two days. The player is allowed to negotiate with other teams, however, if a signature is signed, the team has seven days to draw level with each other. If it does not, there is no compensation in this variant and the player is gone. That’s why the Transition Day isn’t exactly popular with the teams, it offers the chance to react to other offers. Not any more.
In any case, one team may only assign one day per season – whether exclusive, non-exclusive or the transition day. So you couldn’t give the Transition Day to one player in the same off-season and the exclusive Franchise Day to another.
The exact figures will not be announced until the end of February or the beginning of March. The exclusive 2017 franchise tag containers looked like this (see Table):
Franchise day sums 2017:
Surely you can’t know that, but there are some hot candidates who could get the day:
According to ESPN Stats&Info, 30 offensive linemen have received the day since 1993, along with 27 defensive ends and 26 linebackers. On the other hand, only ten quarterbacks, eleven running backs and eleven tight ends received the day.
In its 25-year history, the Indianapolis Colts (a total of eleven franchise tags), followed by the Kansas City Chiefs, the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals (each with 10). At the other end of the spectrum are the Texans (1), Falcons (2) and the Cleveland Browns (3).