NFL free agency is approaching. Before the majority of players with expiring contracts actually come onto the market, teams still have a tool to keep a particularly important player for the short term: the so-called franchise tag. But what’s behind it?
In the offseason, NFL teams basically have two major levers to upgrade their squad: firstly, the draft at the end of April, and secondly, free agency, which starts at the beginning of March.
Players with at least four accrued seasons and an expiring contract become unrestricted free agents. Such a season is credited to a player if he was on a team’s 53-man roster in at least six regular-season games – regardless of whether he was active on the day of the game. A placement on the Injured Reserve List or the PUP List can also result in a credited season if the six-game threshold is reached.
However, there is no accrued season if a player spends an entire season on the Non-Football Injury List or the Commissioner’s Exempt List or is only a member of the practice squad.
Video: Amon-Ra St. Brown comes to Munich
NFL Free Agency: The Franchise Tag
Once a player has reached these four credited seasons and his contract expires, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and is generally allowed to go on the market freely. However, NFL teams have a tool to limit or completely block the jump into free agency for one of their most important players each year: the franchise tag.
This tag is available in two versions: the “normal” or non-exclusive franchise tag and the exclusive franchise tag.
The non-exclusive franchise tag
If a team wants to keep a star player after his contract expires without agreeing on a long-term deal in time, the non-exclusive franchise tag is almost always used. The day, which can be awarded this year between February 17th and March 3rd, is essentially a one-year contract that is fully guaranteed upon signature.
With the non-exclusive tag, the player has two options: He signs the tag, plays for his previous team for another year (and can also be traded by them), or he negotiates with other franchises despite the tag and signs a so-called offer sheet – a completely normal, binding NFL contract. In this case, the original team gets the right to match the offer and keep the player on the same terms; If it decides not to do so, it will receive two first-round picks from the new team as compensation.
This combination of high salary and the price of two first-rounders often deters other clubs because they would have to dig deep into their pockets both financially and in terms of draft capital. Important: Even after applying the franchise tag, the team and players can still negotiate a long-term contract – but only until a rigid deadline of July 15th, after which the one-year contract remains mandatory for the current season.
The exclusive franchise tag
If a team wants to absolutely ensure that a particular free agent will stay next year, they can use the exclusive franchise tag. This is also a one-year contract, but is financially higher than the non-exclusive day because it is based on the average of the top 5 salaries of the respective position in the current year or on 120 percent of the previous year’s salary – whichever is greater. At the same time, the exclusive tag completely blocks the player from conversations with other teams; Negotiations may then only be conducted with his current club.
Franchises only resort to this method in exceptional cases because the costs are significantly higher and they usually involve absolute superstars.
NFL Free Agency: This is transition day
Another, but rarely used, option to keep an expiring contract player is the transition tag. This is significantly less strict than the franchise tag and also entails a lower, position-dependent salary amount.
Above all, the transition day gives the team a “Right of First Refusal”: The player is allowed to negotiate with all other franchises and sign an offer sheet; his previous team can then match this offer 1:1 and keep him.
However, this is exactly where the only real advantage of this tag lies – if the club decides not to accept the offer, the player moves to the new team without any compensation. In addition, each franchise may only use one franchise tag or one transition tag per year, not both.
NFL Free Agency: The Restricted Free Agent Tender
As already mentioned, franchise tags only apply to players who would enter the market as unrestricted free agents. Anyone who is without a contract but does not yet have four credited NFL seasons falls into the restricted free agent category instead – typical for former undrafted rookies who sign three-year contracts as standard.
These RFAs are also allowed to negotiate with other teams. However, her current club can place her on a restricted free agent tender – a one-year contract whose salary varies depending on the tender level. There are four variants to choose from:
- First Round Tender
- Second Round Tender
- Original Round Tender
- Right of First Refusal Tender
If the player signs an offer sheet with another team and his original club lets him go, he will receive as compensation – depending on the tender – a first-round, second-round or a draft pick from the player’s original draft round from the then new team. The latter case only comes into play if a player was drafted but then, for various reasons, fulfilled his original rookie contract and therefore did not accrue four years.
With a pure Right of First Refusal Tender, however, there is no equivalent value. Just like with the franchise tag, the combination of draft compensation and salary makes offer sheets rare because hardly any team is willing to give up an additional high pick for an RFA. Unlike franchise or transition tags, RFA tenders can be awarded as often as desired per year.
NFL Free Agency: Franchise Tag Salary
All of the mechanisms mentioned for retaining out-of-contract players are linked to fixed salaries for these one-year contracts. Clear calculation rules apply, which are position-dependent for franchise and transition tags, while RFA tenders are determined independently of the position.
With the franchise tag, the salary is based on the average of the top 5 cap hits for the respective position over the past five years, converted to the current salary cap. The transition day is slightly cheaper and is based on the average of the top 10 cap hits of the position, also adjusted to the development of the salary cap.
There is also an important protective clause: the 120 percent rule. If the franchise tag amount calculated in this way is lower than the player’s previous cap number, he will instead receive at least 120 percent of his previous cap hit, so that he cannot be worse off financially as a result of the tag.
Franchise Tag: The 120 percent rule
In addition to the “normal” tag calculation, NFL teams have some special rules that are particularly important when used repeatedly. A recent example is Bengals receiver Tee Higgins, who received the franchise tag in 2024 and earned $21.816 million for one year. He was then tagged again in 2025 and would have earned a guaranteed $26,179,202 under the 120 percent rule. Ultimately, however, the team and players agreed on a contract extension that lowered this cap hit somewhat.
With an exclusive franchise tag, the salary is calculated differently than with a non-exclusive franchise tag: Instead of looking at the average of the cap hits of the five highest-paid players in a position, the average of the actual top 5 salaries is looked at, which usually results in a higher amount. In addition, the CBA has upper limits for the repeated use of the franchise tag: For the second year in a row, a player receives at least 120 percent of his previous franchise tag salary, and in the third year even 144 percent – and in this third year his tag total must also be the highest tag number league-wide, regardless of position.
For restricted free agent tenders, the previous year’s amounts are adjusted each year in the same proportion as the salary cap increases. Since the salary cap for 2026 was increased from $279.2 million to $303.5 million, all RFA tender amounts will also be revised upwards accordingly – another record in league history.
NFL Free Agency: 2026 Franchise Tag Totals
This brings us to the following values for franchise and transition tags:
| position | Franchise tag | Transition day |
|---|---|---|
| QB | $47,321,000 | $40,799,000 |
| WR | $28,824,000 | $25,029,000 |
| L.B | $28,197,000 | $23,613,000 |
| OIL | $27,924,000 | $25,305,000 |
| EN | $27,322,000 | $22,908,000 |
| DT | $26,311,000 | $21,608,000 |
| CB | $21,414,000 | $17,951,000 |
| S | $20,876,000 | $16,485,000 |
| TE | $16,319,000 | $13,869,000 |
| RB | $14,536,000 | $11,728,000 |
| ST | $6,900,000 | $6,240,000 |
The following sums result for the RFA tenders:
| type | sum |
|---|---|
| First Round | $8,107,000 |
| Second Round | $5,811,000 |
| Right of First Refusal | $3,547,000 |
