Franchise Tag Window Is Now Open for the Vikings
Janik Eckardt
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The Minnesota Vikings are amid a tumultuous offseason. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has a lot of decisions to make in the upcoming months. Like every season, the draft and free agency are the biggest steps.
In addition to that, the Vikings have to make sure to keep their best players on the team. The franchise has already re-signed the first two free agents. Defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga and backup swing tackle Blake Brandel will be back on the team in 2023, two important depth pieces. Tonga could even be an option to start in Brian Flores’ defense. There’s one way to keep the best free agents on the team without negotiating.
Franchise Tag Window Is Now Open for the Vikings
The annual window teams have to use the franchise tag opened on Tuesday. NFL teams now have until 3 pm CT on March 7 to decide if they want to exercise the franchise tag.
There are different types of tags. The most expensive one is the exclusive-rights franchise tag. It costs a team the average salary of the five highest-paid players at the same position, or 120% of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is higher. A player tagged with the exclusive rights tender can not negotiate with other teams. It’s mainly used for quarterbacks and extremely valuable players.
Kirk Cousins played under the exclusive rights franchise tag in 2016 and 2017 in Washington before he entered free agency in 2018 and signed with the Vikings. None of the current Vikings free agents come close to that level of importance to the franchise, so we can ignore that.
The next lower step is the non-exclusive tag. A player will receive a one-year deal for the average amount of the top five cap hits in the previous five years on the same position, or once again, the 120% rule. That player can negotiate a contract with other teams, but his old team, the team that tagged him, can match the offer.
Does the team not match the offer, they will receive two first-round picks from the player’s new team. A price too high for most. It is the most used version of the franchise tag. Teams will usually keep their players, as most players are not worth a couple of first-round selections in addition to a high salary.
The final tag is the transition tag. A player tagged with that receives a salary of the average of the top ten salaries at the same position in the previous season. The player can once again negotiate with other teams, and the old team can match it. However, the old team does not receive compensation if they don’t match the offer. The transition tag is rarely used.
The three top free agents of the purple team are defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, cornerback Patrick Peterson, and center Garrett Bradbury.
Tomlinson’s contract voided on Monday, which means the Vikings are on the hook for a $7.5 million dead cap hit in 2023. They could’ve prevented that from happening by re-signing him. Tomlinson is now unlikely to be back, considering the new contract would be added to the dead cap hit. His non-exclusive franchise tag would cost the Vikings $18,937,000, and the transition tag is $16,068,000. It’s highly unlikely to happen.
Bradbury’s number looks nearly the same. While he enjoyed a breakout season in 2022, he is unlikely to draw the franchise tag but could be re-signed in free agency or even before free agency kicks off.
The prime version of Peterson definitely deserved the franchise tag, but the 32-year-old cornerback is no longer in his prime, even if he played well in 2022.
It’s unlikely that Adofo-Mensah will use the franchise tag in 2023. If the Vikings want to spend that kind of money on a player, they should target one of the big-name free agents like Jamel Dean or Javon Hargrave.
The last Viking to draw the franchise tag was safety Anthony Harris in 2020. He had a career year in 2019, and the organization wanted to keep him, but he hasn’t reached that level since.
Other teams like the New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens could be active during the window and exercise the tag for Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones, and Lamar Jackson. Every team can tag one player per season.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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