Tuesday morning’s news that the Seattle Seahawks are “unlikely’’ to use the franchise tag on running back Kenneth Walker III might sound ominous for the team’s chances of keeping the reigning Super Bowl MVP.
It’s not.
That same report could basically be written of the Seahawks in every year — and increasingly of every team in the NFL.
The Seahawks have applied the franchise tag on a player only twice since general manager John Schneider arrived in 2010 and actually used it only once. Just two NFL teams applied the tag last year.
In other words, the news says more about how players really don’t like the franchise tag and how it also comes with complications, thus compelling teams to try to avoid using it and the unhappy consequences that come with it.
That may you leave wondering: just how do franchise tags work?
At the most basic, it’s a designation (first introduced in 1993) that a team can place on one player per year who is set to become an unrestricted free agent to essentially keep him for the upcoming season at a predetermined salary. (Walker can become an unrestricted free agent when the new league year begins on March 11.)
There is a set period each season in which teams can enact the franchise tag before free agency hits.
This year’s period began Tuesday and runs through March 3. If the tag is applied, the two sides can then continue to negotiate a long-term deal until July 15.
If no deal is reached, then the tag takes effect for that season (some negotiating of amounts or incentives is also allowed, but the length cannot be changed).
There are two types of franchise tags — exclusive and nonexclusive.
A nonexclusive tag is the most commonly used.
As described on the league’s website, a non-excusive tag “is a one-year tender of the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position over the last five years, or 120 percent of his previous salary, whichever is greater. The tagged player can negotiate with other teams, but the current club owns the right to match any offer or receive two first-round draft picks as compensation if he signs with another team.’’
The exclusive tag differs in that the tender “averages the top five salaries at the player’s position for the current year or 120 percent of his previous salary, whichever is greater,’’ while not allowing the player to negotiate with other teams.
Official figures won’t be set until the NFL releases the salary cap final number for 2026 (that number arrived last year on March 1).
But the website OvertheCap.com, which tracks NFL financial issues, estimates that the tag number for running backs will be $14.536 million.
That would be a hefty raise for Walker, who made $8.4 million combined over the last four seasons on his original rookie contract.
But the tag presents a few issues.
• For players, while the above number would be a good one-year salary for Walker, it doesn’t give him long-term security and would mean he would again face the same situation he did this year, dealing with uncertainty all season about what his future holds.
If there was already a lot of conjecture about his future this season, there would be even more in 2026 given Walker’s even-higher visibility now as a Super Bowl MVP.
The one-year nature of the tag also has led to players feeling as if they are walking a tightrope through that season to avoid injury, or to avoid simply having a down season, before they can hit free agency again the following year.
The tag can also be rescinded at any time before the player signs it, putting both sides back at square one but also potentially meaning the player missed his best window to negotiate with other teams.
• And one drawback for the team is that the entire amount goes on the salary cap for that season. A tag for Walker would take up almost a quarter of the roughly $60 million in effective cap space that Seattle has, via OvertheCap.com.
A more amenable conclusion for each side is something along the lines of what Pro Football Focus recently estimated as his value — a three-year deal worth up to $27 million with $20 million guaranteed.
Such a deal would surely be structured to have a far lower cap hit than the overall $9 million average — say $6 million or so — and then increase steadily the final two years when the cap itself will also increase.
That would create more room for the Seahawks as they navigate what will be a challenging offseason.
While Seattle has ample cap space, there are also plenty of objectives on the to-do list. Other potential unrestricted free agents include cornerbacks Josh Jobe and Riq Woolen, safety Coby Bryant, receiver Rashid Shaheed and edge rusher Boye Mafe.
The Seahawks also can now offer extensions to every member of the draft class of 2023, which includes receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, cornerback Devon Witherspoon and edge rusher Derick Hall.
The Seahawks are likely to try to lock up JSN and Witherspoon for the long haul and avoid them heading into the final year of their rookie contracts with some uncertainty about their future.
But each will probably command deals at the top of their positional wage scale, potentially taking a large chunk of cap (and immediate cash in the form of big bonuses, as well).
The drawbacks of the tag are why they are often viewed as something of a “lose-lose’’ scenario.
Given the team’s emphasis on the vibe in the locker room and culture, that’s probably the last thing the Seahawks want right now.
All of that illustrates why Seattle has used the tag just twice — in 2010 on then 37-year-old kicker Olindo Mare (who got $2.8 million for that season) and in 2019 on defensive end Frank Clark.
Seattle put the tag on Clark basically to buy time to work out a longer-team deal with him.
Instead, once it became apparent that no long-term deal with Clark would get done, the Seahawks traded him to Kansas City shortly before the 2019 draft.
There is also what’s called a transition tag, which is a one-year tender for the average of the top 10 salaries at the position as opposed to the top five, which for Walker this year is estimated at $11.72 million.
But that tag only guarantees teams the right to match any offer the player gets and no potential compensation if he signs elsewhere. It’s been used only six times in the last 10 years throughout the league.
To be sure, Seattle faces a challenge in re-signing Walker. He’s rightfully going to want to get the best deal possible at a time when his market is the most heated — PFF rates him as the number six free agent available overall and the top running back.
And Zach Charbonnet’s ACL injury and uncertainty over when he’ll be available also only increases the value Walker has to Seattle. If Walker doesn’t re-sign, Seattle will have to make a major move to add a running back.
But Tuesday’s news does nothing to change the basics of the situation — that Seattle hopes to re-sign Walker to a long-term deal, and that Walker hopes to get life-changing security.