Starting Tuesday, NFL teams are allowed to assign the franchise tag to free agents. This is a way for teams to retain would-be free agents for one additional year, with the player’s guaranteed salary averaging out to the top-five salaries at their position, or 120 percent of his salary from 2018.
The Buffalo Bills have turned to the franchise tag only five times since the concept was adopted in 1993, and with a less-than-inspiring pool of candidates this offseason, I don’t expect the Bills to assign the franchise tag this year.
With the retirement of Kyle Williams and the release Friday of Charles Clay, the Bills are left with ten free agents according to Spotrac.