One of the more significant timeframes of the NFL offseason commenced on Tuesday. From that day (Feb. 23) until Tuesday, March 9, teams are able to utilize the single franchise tag they possess.
While the tag’s usage is not mandatory, it could assist teams who need another year to figure out whether they want to keep (and thus pay) a certain player for the long term. The intangible weapon may additionally serve as a placeholder so teams can still have enough time to work out a potential long-term deal with a tagged player that same offseason.
The New York Giants could find themselves placing the tag on Leonard Williams for the latter aforementioned reason.