It was anticipated… but became official on Tuesday.
As teams around the NFL began placing the franchise tag on high-profile players, the Buffalo Bills opted not to do that.
At 4 p.m. on March 7, the deadline came and went. The Bills did not use a tag to lock in any of their pending free agents as free agency slowly approaches on March 15.
Buffalo only really had three candidates for the tag: safety Jordan Poyer, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and running back Devin Singletary.
The two defenders were much more likely to receive the tag than Singletary, but it had long been unlikely the Bills use the tag on anyone.
Buffalo has over 20 players that are pending free agents. Singletary’s tag would have been the cheapest of the three, but it still would carry a cap hit of near $10 million. That’s not conducive for a team like the Bills who are over the 2023 salary cap as of now.
Not only that, Buffalo, as a club, hasn’t really been a fan of the franchise tag… ever.
The Bills have only used it five times in the team’s history, most recently in 2016 (Cordy Glenn).
Additionally, that 2016 year means they haven’t used it once under the watch of general manager Brandon Beane either.
The clock is officially ticking on these big-name free agents the Bills have.
[lawrence-related id=114502,114505,114489]
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbw1j59gmjw5gdj player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]