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All NFL teams have until the end of business on March 9 to designate a player to receive the franchise tag. This is a tool to retain players for a season who are set to become free agents at a set salary value based on the position they play as well as if they have been tagged in the previous season.
For players, they typically don’t want to be tagged because it is only a one-year contract but the upside is it almost always a significant raise and all of the salary is guaranteed.
Once a player has been tagged, they still have the option to negotiate and sign a long-term contract with the team. The deadline for teams to work out contracts with tagged players is July 15.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans have experience with how the tag works and what happens when it goes wrong. The Steelers slapped the franchise tag on running back Le’Veon Bell, paying him $12.12 million. Pittsburgh tried to work out a contract extension prior to the 2017 deadline but failed to do so.
The Steelers then tagged Bell again in 2018, meaning he was in line to make $14.54 million, which is 120 percent of his 2017 salary. Bell chose not to sign his franchise tender, sat out the entire 2018 season and forfeited his salary.
This year it doesn’t seem as if the Steelers will use the franchise tag on any players. There was a thought they might consider using it on edge rusher Bud Dupree or perhaps wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. However, given the state of the salary cap in Pittsburgh, it isn’t realistic for the Steelers to invest that type of money into a single player this season.
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