Before free agency kicks off for the 2022 NFL offseason, teams are allowed to apply franchise tags to players to give them a sense of what they need to do before the league year starts on March 16.
The Kansas City Chiefs became the first known team to put their franchise tag on a player, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Monday morning, when offensive lineman Orlando Brown Jr. was tagged before Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline.
The franchise tag is a designation that teams can apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, and it binds the player to the team for one season.