Every NFL offseason, star players from around the league have their names thrown around in contract conversations they can’t necessarily control. Such is negotiation life up against the franchise tag.
A franchise tag is a one-year contract that every NFL team is allowed to issue once per offseason. It allows a franchise to strategically retain a player on a guaranteed deal with a non-negotiated salary. It can only be used on players set to become unrestricted free agents.
The franchise tag is completely unique to the NFL and means different things to different players. In some senses, it’s a validation of a player’s standing in the top tier of their position. But for most, the tag is a frustrating hurdle in the efforts to secure long-term security.
With the 2025 season franchise tag deadline coming at 4 p.m. ET on March 4, here’s everything you need to know about the contract stipulation:
What are the different types of tags?
There are the two types of franchise tags:
- Exclusive tags prohibit a player from negotiating with another team and guarantee the player a salary based on the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position during that current year, or for 120 percent of the player’s previous salary, whichever number is higher.
- Non-exclusive tags allow a player to negotiate with other teams. If a player on a non-exclusive tag agrees to a deal with a new team, the original team can match it, or refuse and be awarded two first-round picks as compensation. The salary on a non-exclusive tag is determined by the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position from the previous five years applied to the current salary cap, or for 120 percent of the player’s previous salary, whichever number is higher.
The combination of a cheaper salary and the steep price of two first-round picks has made the non-exclusive tag the more popular option for teams to use. Teams also use the tags as a negotiation strategy for drawing big trade offers out of other teams.
Franchise tags differ from the rarely used transition tag, which are used on unrestricted free agents and gives teams the right of first refusal to match any offer a transition tagged player receives from another team.
A player can be franchise tagged multiple times in his career. The tag gets more expensive with each use, as a player is guaranteed at least 120 percent of his previous year’s salary when tagged a second time. If a player is tagged a third time, he gets either 120 percent of the average of the top five salaries at the position, 144 percent of his previous year’s salary or the average of the top five salaries for the highest-paid position in the league (which is always quarterbacks). Whatever number is highest becomes the player’s new salary.
Prior to the change to make additional franchise tags more costly, Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Walter Jones was tagged in three consecutive offseasons before holding out for a long-term deal. The 2006 collective bargaining agreement amended the franchise tag following Jones’ case, making it much more expensive to tag a player for a third time.
Tee Higgins celebrates after a victory. (Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
Notable recent tag news in 2025
While the franchise tag is available to all 32 teams to use as a way to ensure that they don’t lose their top free agent on the open market, we don’t always see a lot of action on this front across the NFL each offseason.
Here’s the latest news on the tag, who has been tagged, who won’t be tagged and who has been discussed.
Price of tags: The league released the official numbers on Feb. 28 on how much 2025 franchise tags will cost. Predictably, quarterbacks came in as the priciest position, at over $40 million, while linebackers were the second-highest at $25.4 million.
Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee Higgins: The 26-year-old Higgins was tagged for a second straight offseason, a $26 million deal for the Bengals’ star who had 73 catches for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns despite being limited by injury to just 12 games last year.
Minnesota Vikings Sam Darnold: After Minnesota signed Darnold to a one-year, $10 million deal after drafting J.J. McCarthy, Darnold blossomed under Kevin O’Connell’s tutelage and helped the Vikings enjoy their most successful regular season in decades. But with McCarthy returning to the practice field in January, the team is deciding to move forward without tagging Darnold and will let the 27-year-old hit free agency, per league sources.
Kansas City Chiefs RG Trey Smith: The fifth-year veteran was tagged by Kansas City on Feb. 28 after earning his first Pro Bowl selection in 2024. The Chiefs were looking to get a long-term deal done with Smith, but have yet to reach an agreement and placed a tag on him. For both parties to best continue their partnership, the most ideal scenario is that the Chiefs sign Smith to a multi-year deal before March 10, when free agency begins.
Philadelphia Eagles MLB Zack Baun: Despite Baun anchoring the Eagles defense in his first season in Philadelphia en route to the Super Bowl, the franchise tag isn’t normally Howie Roseman’s style. Regarding Baun, Roseman said at the NFL combine the team “will make a concerted effort to try to keep him here,” but added said “he has an opportunity to hit free agency. We didn’t do any deals during the season which probably could have prevented some of these problems but we just didn’t feel like the timing was right.”
Can players refuse a tag?
The franchise tag has long been viewed as a favorable stipulation for team builders, as it minimizes long-term risk. If the player gets injured or their performance falters while playing on a tag, the team can let them walk or re-sign them at a lower rate the next offseason.
Some players have fought back against the tag by holding out during training camp and even extending that into the season in some cases.
In 2018, Le’Veon Bell sat out the entire season after getting tagged by Pittsburgh. He got a four-year deal with the New York Jets the next offseason. Davante Adams threatened to pull a similar boycott when he was tagged in 2022, leading the Green Bay Packers to subsequently trade him to the Las Vegas Raiders, where he received a five-year deal.
The first player to refuse a franchise tag was Sean Gilbert, who sat out the 1997 season when Washington placed the tag on him after his breakout Pro Bowl season. Washington placed the non-exclusive tag on him in 1998, then the Carolina Panthers offered Gilbert a lucrative offer sheet. Washington let Gilbert move on to Carolina rather than match, and received two first-round picks in exchange.
Players have also tried to file grievances in conjunction with the NFL Players Association to dispute franchise tag designations. In 2012, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees filed a grievance arguing that the 2011 CBA did not specify whether the three tag limit was applied across multiple teams. Brees, who was tagged by the Saints that offseason, had previously been tagged by the San Diego Chargers in 2005. An arbitrator ruled in Brees’ favor, establishing a precedent that franchise tag designations apply across teams.
While still rare, players more frequently file grievances to dispute their positional designation for the tag itself. In 2008, Terrell Suggs argued he played more snaps with the Baltimore Ravens as a defensive end than as a linebacker. The Ravens and Suggs settled the dispute outside of arbitration without establishing a precedent. Jimmy Graham filed a similar grievance in 2014, arguing that he was used more as a wide receiver than a tight end based on his in-game usage. He lost the grievance, with an arbitrator citing that Graham was lined up within four yards of the nearest offensive lineman on a majority of possessions.
Why did the NFLPA first agree to the tag?
The tag was first introduced in 1993 through the NFL’s fourth-ever CBA as the NFLPA sought to create a form of free agency. In turn, NFL owners were looking to install a salary cap.
Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen refused to sign the CBA at the time, as he feared losing his star quarterback John Elway to free agency. His refusal initiated days of negotiations and culminated in his proposal of the “Elway Rule,” a policy which later became known as the franchise tag and was initially only used for quarterbacks in order to keep the franchise’s most important players from leaving.
Bowlen’s compromise with the NFLPA was accepted, and over time the franchise tagging strategy shifted from superstars to targeting breakout players in order to keep them under team control.
“I never thought it would ever apply to any other player (other than quarterback),” Jim Quinn, head lawyer for the players association, later told Sports Illustrated.
Movements to kill the franchise tag have failed to gain momentum in recent CBAs as a large percentage of players in the NFLPA are not affected by the tag, which can at most be placed on 32 players of the 2,000-plus active players in the union. While the NFLPA has negotiated to remove it, other offers from the owners have led to accepted compromises resulting in the tag continuing.
NFL owners and the NFLPA most recently agreed to a new CBA in 2020, which included the amendment that teams can no longer use both a franchise tag and a transition tag in the same offseason.
(Top photo of Sam Darnold: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
