The top Jets player hitting free agency is running back Breece Hall. His future with the team is up in the air. At his press conference during the NFL Scouting Combine, Mougey reportedly suggested that the Jets intend to keep Hall. The team will pursue a long-term extension before the start of free agency. If one cannot be reached, the Jets will place one of the two tags available to them on Hall.
Each year NFL teams are allowed to use either the franchise tag or the transition tag on one player. The franchise tag provides the player with a one year contract at the average of the top five paid players at his position. The transition tag is the average of the top ten.
The franchise tag has stronger protections, however. For all intents and purposes, placing the franchise tag on a certain player guarantees he remains with the team unless traded. The transition tag offers no such protections. The player is allowed to seek and agree to offers with other teams. If the player agrees to a deal with a new team, the original team has the opportunity to match it to retain the player’s services. The original team receives no compensation if it chooses not to match.
The cost of the franchise tag for Hall would be roughly $14.5 million per Over the Cap. The transition tag would be around $11.7 million.
Given the amount of salary cap space the Jets have, I would presume protections of the franchise tag are worth the higher cost of around $3 million.
