The deadline for teams to designate franchise or transition players have passed and, as usual, there was a flurry of activity in the hours leading up to the 1 p.m. PT deadline on Tuesday. There were reports, reports on those reports, official reports that weren’t official at all, and all the usual fun stuff that comes with a deadline in the modern NFL.
The San Francisco 49ers did not use the franchise tag, as expected. Nor did they use the transition tag, as expected. They have some big-name free agents like running back Carlos Hyde and safety Eric Reid, and while I’d like both players back, the tag would have been a hard sell for either.