The NFL and the NFL Players Association are still in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. However, they agreed for a franchise tag extension in time of the 2020 free agency. They decided to postpone the start of the franchise designation period, which was initially from February 25 to March 10. According to the agreement, the period will now be from February 27 to March 12.
All 32 NFL teams can use a franchise team. It doesn’t matter whether the league and the NFLPA finalized a new CBA before the start of the new league year on March 18. As a result of the tag extension period, the team will have two more days to decide whether to use tags.
March 12 is four days before the start of the legal tampering period of the NFL. During that time, teams can start talking to free agents before March 18.
NFL Franchise Tag Extension
In the NFL, the franchise tag is a label any team can use to a player who is going to be an unrestricted free agent. It binds the NFL player to the team for a year according to specific conditions.
Based on payperhead sources, a team has a franchise tag to use. Also, a team has a transition tag that it can use if its franchise tag is unused. The tag gives the team more time to negotiate with a player.
Teams often use the franchise tag for players with exceptional talent and skill. It allows the team GM to find ways to keep valuable free agents without going over the NFL salary cap, according to bookie pay per head reports.
According to Pay Per Head news sites, some franchise tag candidates include Tennessee RB Derrick Henry, Dallas QB Dak Prescott, and Dallas WR Amari Cooper.