NFL teams can use the franchise tag or even the transition tag during free agency periods.
While most NFL fans have a rudimentary understanding of what the franchise tag is, the transition tag is also there for use during free agency.
It’s a bit more complicated, but it’s there to ensure teams don’t lose their star players in free agency. The franchise tag is a one-year salary that is equal to the average of the top five annual salaries in a player’s given position group. This number is predetermined, but a team can only use this negotiation tactic once per season. The same principle applies to the transition label.
What is the Transition Tag and when can NFL teams start using it during the offseason?
NFL Free Agency: What is the Transition Tag and when can a team start using it?
The Transition Tag is a tool the NFL’s front office has to try to prevent its key players from ending up in the open market. It is very similar to restricted free agency in the NBA, where a team has a right of first refusal to respond to an offer. Like the franchise tag, it can only be used once a year. Although a transition tag can be undone, it cannot be retrieved and used on another player.
If a player signs a contract after using the transition tag, the same trading tool cannot be used on the same player or any other player until that particular contract expires. There is one exception to this rule: if a player signs a transition offer sheet. It is a one-year guaranteed contract with a predetermined amount corresponding to the average annual salary of a top 10 player’s position group.
Or a 20% pay raise, whichever is greater…
There are a few reasons why this trading tactic is rarely deployed. The first is that the amount of salary this generally equates to is rather high and difficult to manage in a hard cap environment. The second is that players hate this tactic. This prevents them from being able to trade with other teams, thus removing their fair market value. In short, you turn a free agent into a restricted agent.
Keep in mind that there is a seven-day window during which a team has the right to match any contract put on the table for a potential free agent. If the team lines up, the “free agent” is obligated to sign the contract and return to their team. Given how brutal football is, you can understand why players hate being marked, especially if it’s some sort of transition.
So if you want to exasperate a 275 pound human, mark him in transition and remove all doubt.
