The window to place the franchise tag on an unrestricted free agent in the NFL opened officially on Tuesday. It’s the first real sign post-Super Bowl that we are on to the next league year, and it should be an interesting 15 days (teams have until March 7 to place the exclusive franchise tag on a player before possibly losing them in unrestricted free agency). And while there are some teams that will have some very interesting if not tense franchise tag decisions to come, one of those teams is likely not to be the New England Patriots.
The disclaimer of “Well, you never know with these Patriots” comes with the territory because, well, Bill Belichick. But the likelihood of the Patriots, who have approximately just under $33 million in cap space to work with presently, using the tag on either of their premier free agents – receiver Jakobi Meyers and cornerback Jonathan Jones – or any other free agent is slim to none. Meyers and Jones, who both have said they’d like to return to New England, are likely to draw interest from several teams, and should be earning in the ballpark of $12+ million per season. But looking to lock them up at or above a guaranteed $19 million for 2023, with no guarantee of a long-term deal in the pipeline, would be lunacy. They’re each quality players at their respective positions, but worthy of being paid at the top five of their position? Hardly the case, especially for a team that has a number of needs to address on both sides of the ball.
Perhaps offensive tackle Isaiah Wynn will attract some suitors this spring, but those are likely to be outside of Foxborough, as his final season didn’t go as planned for both sides. Moving on will likely be mutually beneficial for all parties.
Whether or not the Patriots are planning to prioritize Meyers and Jones remains to be seen, though one might guess that the team will make competitive offers for both. As for New England’s interest in other top unrestricted free agents, some of whom could be facing franchise tag designations of their own? That remains to be seen, though we should expect a decent amount of action from the Pats when unrestricted free agency opens for business March 13. And the next few weeks could be headline-making with tags, big money deals and more.
Just don’t expect to hear about any tags used in-house at Gillette Stadium anytime soon.
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