NFL teams can retain the rights to one of their impending free agents with the use of franchise or transition tags during a two-week window that began on Feb. 19. Franchise tags are primarily based on the average of the five largest salaries in a prior year at a position; transition tags use the average of the 10 largest salaries. The designation period ends at 4 p.m. ET on March 5. 

The 49ers have placed a franchise tag on kicker Robbie Gould. Productive young pass rushers such as Seahawks defensive end Frank Clark, Texans outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, Chiefs outside linebacker Dee Ford and Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence are strong candidates for the franchise designation this year. 

The franchise tag was initially conceived as a method to allow teams to retain marquee players, where it would act as a precursor to a long-term contract. Instead of being reserved for marquee players, the franchise tag has become a tool over time that restricts a team's best free agent in a given year from entering the open market. The concept wasn't originally created with kickers like Gould in mind.

The designation is also a powerful management tool that hinders players from getting fair market value and can depress salaries. For example, it's conceivable Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller could have become the NFL's highest-paid player in 2016 if he had been on the open market, like five-time All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was the year before, instead of being the Broncos' franchise player. Miller was coming off a 2015 season in which he earned first team All-Pro honors and was named Super Bowl 50 MVP. He signed a six-year, $114.5 million contract with $70 million of overall guarantees making him the NFL's highest-paid non-quarterback after acrimonious negotiations. The benchmarks Miller may have had a good chance of beating would have been Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco's $22,133,333 average per year and Suh's $59.955 million fully guaranteed at signing from the Dolphins.

In an ideal world, the franchise and transition designations would be abolished. That isn't going to happen in the next collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The NFLPA will have bigger priorities than the designation system in negotiations to replace the current CBA, which expires in 2021. Only a handful of players are directly impacted by a designation annually. Teams have become more judicious with tags as the costs have increased. An average of seven players per year have been given designations over the last five years; the breakdown is six franchise and one transition designation. The owners won't have incentive to seek changes, absent a compelling reason, although there are several modifications that should be made to the tag system.

Redefine positions

Eleven different positions currently exist under the designation concept. These do not adequately reflect how football has evolved since the tags system's inception in 1993. The NFL's predominant personnel grouping now utilizes five or more defensive backs, where players that are defensive ends in a 4-3 scheme and outside linebackers in a 3-4 alignment are pass rushers. The two positions are treated differently for tag purposes, despite essentially having the same function on the football field.

The defensive end franchise number is projected to be approximately $1.7 million more than the linebacker figure. This means Clowney will potentially be penalized financially compared to Clark.

Clowney is expected to file a grievance to be classified as a defensive end if designated as a linebacker. For tag purposes, a player's position is determined by where he participated in the most plays during the prior season. A grievance wouldn't be necessary with edge rusher and interior line as positions rather than defensive end and defensive tackle, since Clowney and Clark would automatically have the same number. The interior line position would encompass 3-4 defensive ends that move inside on passing downs.

Linebackers would no longer include players primarily rushing the passer, who have almost exclusively been the recipients of the designation. It's considered a financial windfall for coverage or all-around linebackers.

Offensive line should be split to reflect the three main positions (center, guard and tackle). Left tackles are the only offensive linemen that typically receive designations because the system doesn't account for the salary differences among the positions. A guard or center hasn't been franchised since the Patriots and Panthers used the designation on Logan Mankins and Ryan Kalil, respectively, in 2011.

Two-designation limit

The 2006 CBA ensured that players at all positions, with the possible exception of quarterback, wouldn't be franchised more than twice because a third and final franchise tag on a player is the greater of the highest franchise number at any position (usually quarterback) or 144 percent of the player's prior season's salary. The 144 percent and highest franchise number provision should be removed with a strict limit of two designations for a player, whether franchise or transition.

The Steelers reportedly considered restricting running back Le'Veon Bell for a third-straight year with a transition tag after making him a franchise player in 2017 and 2018. Bell will finally get a chance to enter the open market when free agency begins on March 13.

Theoretically, a team could place a transition designation on a player as many times as it wanted with a 20-percent increase over the prior year's salary for each use after exhausting the franchise tag. The current rules don't address a usage limitation for the transition designation.

Elimination of July 15 deadline for multi-year contracts

Prior to the 2006 CBA, there was a 30-day period immediately after the designation deadline to agree to a long-term deal with a franchise player before what essentially amounted to a four-month signing moratorium began. During this four-month period, if a franchise player signed long-term, his designation lasted for the duration of the contract. Teams were prevented from franchising another player while the deal remained in existence. The restriction didn't apply for long-term deals signed after July 14.

The 2006 CBA eliminated the rules which led to the signing moratorium but created a July 15 deadline for long-term deals. It's almost become standard operating procedure for players who don't sign a long-term deal by this arbitrary deadline to miss part of training camp to either protest their franchise tag or as an attempt to minimize the risk of injury before regular-season play begins. Bell boycotted the 2018 season instead of playing under a franchise tag for a second-straight year. He was first franchise player to sit out a full season since Chiefs defensive end Dan Williams in 1998.

The best of the past and current CBA rules on franchise tag signings can be achieved by abolishing the July 15 negotiating deadline. Without the signing prohibition, the Steelers would have had the ability to continue negotiating with Bell to bring him back into the fold for years to come. A trade would have been a more viable option, since another team could have ensured Bell would have been more than just a short-term rental.

Decrease franchise-tag compensation

Offer sheets for franchise players are virtually non-existent because of the steep acquisition cost. The compensation on an unmatched offer sheet is two first-round picks. Wide receiver Joey Galloway in 2000 was the last franchise player to move to another team, from the Seahawks to the Cowboys, for full compensation. Typically, when players under franchise tags switch teams, it's through a trade with less than two first-round picks received in return.

The current CBA eliminated the highest restricted-free-agent tender, which required first- and third-round picks as compensation for unmatched offer sheets. This level of compensation may be more appropriate for franchise players than two first-round picks.

Trade prohibition

Trades involving franchise players are few and far between. Before the Dolphins dealt wide receiver Jarvis Landry to the Browns last year for a 2018 fourth-round pick and a 2019 seventh-round pick, the last trade of franchise player occurred in 2009 with Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel.

Designating a player strictly for trade purposes should not be permissible because it violates the spirit of a tag's original intention, retaining a marquee player for an extended period of time. The Eagles are considering putting a franchise tag on quarterback Nick Foles just to trade him rather than waiting until next year to receive a third-round compensatory selection at best for the Super Bowl LII MVP leaving in free agency. The Eagles would presumably be looking for comparable or better draft capital that could be used this year.

There is a school of thought that this type of maneuver is a contravention of the CBA. Language requiring a good faith intention to negotiate with a tendered player or keep him for the upcoming season at his tender exists in the CBA. The Patriots were allowed to trade Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel (now the Titans head coach) to the Chiefs for a 2009 second-round pick (34th overall) while the quarterback was designated a franchise player in 2009. It was obvious New England wasn't going to pay Cassel $14.651 million to be Tom Brady's backup once Brady recovered from the torn ACL that sidelined him for practically all of the 2008 season. The type of language in question was a part of the labor agreement in existence when Cassel's designation was made.

A team insisting that a player agree to a contract for that particular season under the required tendered amount is specifically mentioned as violation. The good-faith intention may be superseded by other language within the same provision addressing the permissibility of trades.