Why you shouldn’t expect the Seahawks to use the franchise tag

Ernest Jones IV is a free agent and could be franchise tagged. It would be a stunner if the Seahawks went that route.

Tuesday (Feb. 18) marks the beginning of a two-week window in which NFL teams can place the franchise tag on soon-to-be unrestricted free agents. Once the March 4 deadline passes, no players can be franchise tagged.

For the Seattle Seahawks, this has historically been a non-story on two fronts: they rarely tag their own players and they virtually never as much as look at outside free agents who could potentially get tagged. Still, we’re in a very boring part of the NFL offseason so we might as well just explain why Seattle will almost certainly not be using the franchise tag.

What type of franchise tags are there?

Before we get into the monetary value, there are three types of tags:

• Non-exclusive franchise tag. This allows the tagged player to sign an offer sheet from another team, and the tagging team either matches the offer or receives two first-round picks in return. It’s the most common form of franchise tag.
• Exclusive franchise tag. No offer sheets are allowed from other teams. Doesn’t get any simpler than that.
• Transition tag. Not something we see very often, but it’s basically the non-exclusive franchise tag sans the draft compensation received. New England Patriots defensive back Kyle Dugger was transition-tagged last season before agreeing to a new contract.

Tagging a player does not prevent a team from agreeing to a long-term contract, but the deadline to get that done is July 15. A team can rescind the tag before a player signs the contract, but it will count as having been used for the year.

Why the Seahawks will most likely not franchise tag Ernest Jones

Now here’s the fun part. The franchise tag costs depends on the position you play. Jones will be classified as a linebacker (obviously), so if Jones gets the non-exclusive tag would cost the Seahawks a fully-guaranteed one-year deal worth $27,050,000.

A transition tag would be $22,612,000, while the exclusive franchise tag is, in Jones’ case, dependent on the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position, so we won’t know until after restricted free agency is over.

The top contract in terms of average per year is Roquan Smith at $20,000,000. I think that in itself explains exactly why Jones wouldn’t get tagged when you can just as easily work out a deal without tagging him in the first place.

Jones is literally the only Seahawks impending free agent with any reasonable justification to get a franchise tag, so it’s either him or nobody.

When have the Seahawks used the franchise tag under John Schneider?

Only twice. Kicker Olindo Mare was tagged in 2010 and played on that contract but not a day beyond that. He was replaced by Stephen Hauschka the following season.

Edge rusher Frank Clark was tagged in 2019 but he never signed his...