Starting Wednesday and lasting through 4 p.m. March 1, NFL teams may apply the franchise tag or transition tag to a select few pending free agents. Here's everything you need to know about a somewhat complex issue.
Q: So why does the franchise tag exist?
A: In theory, it's to allow the smaller-market teams to compete with the big-market franchises by letting them lock up their prospective free agents beyond the original time frame of their contracts. Usually the franchise tag is reserved for a team's top pending free agent.
Q: How many franchise tags do teams get?