As free agency approaches next week, teams are shifting finances around and placing franchise tags on their players rather than allowing them to hit the market.
When a player's contract expires, a team has the option to "franchise tag" the player, preventing him from leaving the team and guaranteeing the player the average salary of the top five highest paid players at his position. They can do this for multiple years (Kirk Cousins made a small fortune playing on the franchise tag in Washington), but the player gets compensated higher each year they get tagged.
Franchise tags also are step one in shaping the 2022 NFL landscape. Once we know which free agents are off the board, we can truly identify each team's areas of need entering free agency and the draft.
Per Adam Shefter, here are the players who have been tagged so far:
T Orlando Brown, KC
S Jessie Bates, CIN
TE David Njoku, CLE
TE MIke Gesicki, MIA
Here are the players expected to be tagged in the coming days:
WR Davante Adams, GB
WR Chris Godwin, TB
WR Mike Williams, LAC
TE Dalton Schultz, DAL
Orlando Brown was virtually a lock to stay in Kansas City one way or another after how much they gave up to trade for him. This likely signals their safety Tyrann Mathieu hitting the market, however.
Jessie Bates exploded onto everyone's radar this year and earned the right to make some money until a long term deal can be reached. Cincinnati would have been in a prime position to draft a future star at the position at the end of the first round of the draft, but now they can focus their efforts on a different area.
Tagging the tight ends may seem odd, but currently Njoku, Gesicki, and Schultz are all making $10 million a year and the tag basically boosts that to about $13 million for 2022.
Davante Adams has long led the franchise tag discussion, and with the breaking Aaron Rodgers deal keeping him in Green Bay, the tag keeping Adams there is expected to follow shortly. Adams would command top receiver money on the free agent market, so technically Green Bay is getting him at a bargain if the can pay him anything less than highest-paid in the league.
The Brady-less Bucs are looking at Kyle Trask as a possible starter for 2022, and with the departure of Antonio Brown, Bruce Arians can't be left with Mike Evans riding solo out there. Godwin is a talented receiver who played under the tag in 2021 and if a deal can't be done (reports are, they are close to getting him on a five year, 90-million deal) Tampa is sure to tag him again.
Mike Williams has had a career plagued with health issues, not ones that keep him off the field necessarily but keep him from performing at the highest levels he is capable of. When healthy, he puts up superstar numbers, and is one of the best 50/50 ball receivers in the league. It appears the Chargers don't want to upset the offensive apple cart they have going with Justin Herbert, and will tag Williams to keep the band together for one more year.
Players not expected to receive a franchise tag, and enter free agency March 16th:
S Marcus Williams, NO
S Tyrann Mathieu, KC
CB JC Jackson, NE
CB Carlton Davis, TB
OLB Harold Landry, TEN
WR Odell Beckham Jr, LAR
CB Stephon Gilmore, CAR
OLB Chandler Jones, AZ
G Brandon Scherff, WAS
WR Allen Robinson II, CHI
RB Sony Michel, LAR
WR Will Fuller IV, MIA
WR Michael Gallup, DAL
DE Jadaveon Clowney, CLE
OLB Von Miller, LAR
DL Akeem Kicks, CHI
T Terron Armstead, NO
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