Starting today, NFL teams can start assigning the franchise tag to their class of upcoming free agents. But what exactly does this mean for the 32 clubs and the reigning world champions New England Patriots in particular? Let’s break down the different types of tags and the players in and outside of New England who are realistic candidates to get tagged one way or the other to find out.
What is the franchise tag?
In basic terms, the franchise tag can be explained as follows: it is a fully guaranteed one-year contract teams use to keep one of their unrestricted free agents from hitting the open market.