The franchise tag was originally intended to be a precursor for marquee players signing long-term contracts. It doesn't nece sarily work that way.The designation has evolved into a powerful management tool that restricts a team's best free agent in a Scott Oberg Jersey given year from entering the open market regardle s of whether he is a true marquee player. Most players haven't been happy when given a franchise tag. The designation can hinder the ability to gain long-term security because players must incur the risk of serious injury and poor performance again after already playing out their contracts when an agreement on a long-term deal can't be reached. In these cases, it is e sentially a high-salaried, one-year, "prove-it" deal.The franchise tag has been used 30 times over the last three years (2020-2022). Only 30% of the time (9 of 30) during this time frame was a long-term deal signed while under the designation.A look at how franchise tags work is below. The projected 2023 franchise numbers and an examination of the best candidates to receive the designations next year follows. can retain the rights to one of its impending free agents in 2023 with the use of a transition non-exclusive or an exclusive franchise tag during a 15-day period from Feb. 21 to March 7.How franchise tenders are calculated is misunderstood. Prior to the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, non-exclusive franchise tags had been an average of the five largest salaries in the prior year at a player's position or 120% of the prior year's salary of the player, whichever was greater. For franchise tag purposes, salary means a player's salary cap number, excluding workout bonuses and most other performance bonuses.The 120% and five largest salaries provisions have remained intact but the formula component is now calculated over a five-year period that's tied to a percentage Jon Gray Jersey of the overall salary cap. More specifically, the number for each position is derived by taking the sum of the non-exclusive franchise tags as determined by the original methodology for the previous five seasons and dividing by the sum of the actual NFL salary cap amount for the previous five seasons. The resulting percentage, which is known as the cap percentage average in the CBA, is then multiplied by the actual salary cap for the upcoming league year. This non-exclusive tag allows a player to negotiate with other NFL teams but if he signs an offer sheet with another club, his team has five days to match the offer. If the offer is not matched, his team will receive two first-round picks as compensation from the signing team.Under the exclusive franchise tag, a player will receive a one-year offer from his team that is the greater of the average of the top-five salaries at his position once the restricted free agent signing period of the current league year has ended (April 21 for 2023) or 120% of his prior year's salary. The non-exclusive number is initially used as a placeholder and adjusted upward if the exclusive calculation dictates once restricted free agency ends. A player cannot negotiate with other teams with the exclusive franchise tag.The transition tag has been used with a lot le s frequency than the franchise tag. It is based on the average of the top-10 salaries at a player's position using the same methodology as non-exclusive franchise tag calculations. The 120% provision also applies. Teams have the same right of first refusal as with franchise tags but do not receive any draft-choice compensation for declining to match an offer sheet. The chart below contains an early look at the 2023 franchise tags. I keep track of the salary data nece sary to do the calculations under the franchise and transition tag formulas. I recently confirmed with my NFL sources the 2022 data entering the formula.There was Pat Valaika Jersey a report recently that the 2023 salary cap could exceed $220 million -- $225 million is being used for the 2023 salary cap. That's the most common response given when surveying a handful of teams about the number being used internally for 2023 salary cap projections. That figure is an 8.07% increase from the current $208.2 million figure. The franchise tags are preliminary because the numbers can't be finalized until the 2023 salary cap is set, which is typically in late February or early March.POSITIONPROJECTEDCAP % AVERAGECURRENT% CHANGECornerback$18,156,0008.069%$17,287,0005.03%Defensive end$19,744,0008.775%$17,859,00010.55%Defensive tackle$18,954,0008.424%$17,396,0008.96%Linebacker$20,945,0009.309%$18,702,00011.99%Offensive line$18,260,0008.116%$16,662,0009.59%Punter/kicker$5,398,0002.399%$5,220,0003.41%Quarterback$32,445,00014.42%$29,703,0009.23%Running back$10,100,0004.489%$9,570,0005.54%Safety$14,473,0006.432%$12,911,00012.1% Sam Hilliard Jersey Tight end$11,355,0005.047%$10,931,0003.88%Wide receiver$19,761,0008.783%$18,419,0007.29%By CBA rule, the players currently under a one-year franchise tag, like quarterback , are prohibited from signing long term until the regular season ends on Jan. 8. The are precluded from designating quarterback as a franchise or transition player. His renegotiated contract, where he took a substantial pay cut, contains a clause preventing either tag.The can't keep from hitting the open market if he decides to keep playing football next season when he will be 46 years old. Brady has a clause in his contract like Garoppolo's.Jackson's great start to the season made him September's AFC Offensive Player of the Month. He had faded from the NFL MVP conversation before suffering a sprained PCL in his left knee during a Week 13 game against the . The injury is expected to keep Jackson out of action until Week's 16 contest versus the on Christmas Eve.Jackson, who represents himself, reportedly turned down a five-year offer worth $250 million with $133 million fully guaranteed before cutting off negotiations shortly before the regular season started because he wants a fully guaranteed contract. The offer had the second highest average yearly salary and money fully guaranteed ever in an NFL contract. The fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract the gave quarterback in connection with his trade from the Browns to the in March that Jackson Antonio Senzatela Jersey views as a benchmark is an outlier. BAL QB #8 CMP%62.3YDs2242TD17INT7YD/Att6.88 Negotiations are expected to resume in January after the regular season ends. Jackson is destined to start playing the franchise tag game if both parties remain firmly entrenched in their positions on a fully guaranteed contract.The exclusive franchise designation will be most likely. Four of the last five times quarterbacks have been designated as franchise players the exclusive tag has been used.The 2023 exclusive quarterback franchise tag currently projects to $45.248 million. This number is subject to change depending on new quarterback deals, contract restructures, pay cuts and/or releases between now and then.