In most cases, being a franchise player doesn’t pay like it used to.
A new formula for computing the worth of franchise tags in the NFL, revised as part of the collective bargaining agreement struck last summer, is in play for the first time as a Monday deadline looms for teams to designate which player they will effectively keep off the free agent market that opens March 13.
Under the old formula, the franchise tag tender was based on the average of the top five salaries at a given position. Now the methodology begins with the value of the tags over the last five years and weighs in with a percentage of the salary cap.
That was illustrated in a practical sense Thursday when the Philadelphia Eagles tagged wide receiver DeSean Jackson with a tender projected at $9.6 million — nearly $2 million lower than last year’s wide receiver figure.
Full story: NFL adjusting to lower franchise tag values