As the conversation lingers regarding the Super Bowl, the first major development of the 2024 offseason comes in just one day.
On Tuesday, the two-week window for applying the franchise tag opens.
The franchise tag has become the most effective way for teams to resist unfettered free agency. It gives every team the ability to block one player from the open market, each and every year. That keeps the best players in the league from becoming unrestricted free agents and, in turn, holds down the top end of the market at nearly every position.
From time to time, we’ll hear arguments that the only thing that matters is the closing of the window, not the opening of it. That there’s no need to have a two-week period. There only needs to be one day.
That overlooks what’s coming next week in Indianapolis. Officially, the Scouting Combine. Unofficially, Tampering Central. Agents will meet with many teams. Agents will talk about their impending free agents. Teams will express interest in them. The foundation will be laid for the mad dash of the looming legal tampering period, which begins in only three weeks.
Applying the tag this week makes it pointless for pre-legal tampering tampering to happen. There’s no player who could be franchise-tagged this year who would attract an offer that, if not matched, would see a team happily give up two first-round picks. (If it didn’t happen last year with Lamar Jackson, it’s not happening this year, with anyone.)
Don’t be surprised, then, if one or two tags are applied by the end of the week. That will operate as a practical barrier to any talks about what a player could get from another team if he hits the open market, because it will be clear that he won’t.