The Philadelphia Eagles might not be allowed to franchise tag Nick Foles.
Foles recently bought himself out of his Eagles extension, but in theory the team could still franchise tag him. However, that wouldn’t be allowed if their intention was to trade him away. (RELATED: Nick Foles Buys Himself Out Of His Eagles Contract, Will Likely Be A Free Agent)
ProFootballTalk reported the following late Wednesday afternoon:
Second, Foles and his agents should challenge the franchise tag, if it’s applied. Article 4, Section 8, subsection (b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement states as follows: “A Club extending a Required Tender must, for so long as that Tender is extended, have a good faith intention to employ the player receiving the Tender at the Tender compensation level during the upcoming season.” If the Eagles would simply be tagging Foles to trade him, Foles should invoke this provision and fight the tag, via an expedited grievance that would be resolved before the start of free agency.
This actually makes a lot of sense from the CBA and NFL side. Franchise tagging people just for trade value seems like a really bad trend to support or prop up.
The only reason the Eagles would really have any interest in doing that would be in order to trade him. So, I think Foles would have a great argument to have the NFL stop that from happening.
View this post on Instagram
Besides, Foles probably wants a longterm deal. According to ProFootballTalk, he’d be due $25 million next season under the tag. That’s a lot of money for sure, but a long-term deal would almost certainly be preferred.
It’s better to get $60 million over three years than $25 million for one year followed by uncertainty. The Super Bowl champion quarterback is absolutely going to be paid on the free agency market.
I have no idea why he wouldn’t try to push for that for everything it’s worth. If I was his agent, I’d absolutely try to stop the franchise tag from happening.