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The games teams play Posted: Thursday February 21, 2002 2:53 PM
This time of year all you hear about is franchise and transition tags. Clubs use these designations to prevent their veteran stars from leaving for greener pastures. There are some things you must always remember about these "tags." It's not necessarily true that a club wants to re-sign the player they tag. A few years ago the Jets put a franchise tag on tight end Kyle Brady, preventing him from testing the free-agent waters. Then New York signed Eric Green; as soon as Green put his signature on the contract, the Jets released Brady. A tagged player doesn't receive a dime until the fall so there is no financial risk in tagging a body, although there is cap stress. This week there have been two interesting cases to watch. In Philadelphia, the Eagles elected to put the franchise tag on all-pro Jeremiah Trotter -- they had the cap space to absorb the $5.5 million hit -- but they also have some other excellent young linebackers on their roster. Remember, Philadelphia rarely rattles the financial structure of its club for a single player (the club has just one player whose salary is among the top five at his position, tackle Jon Runyan ). Trotter's agent knows his client could command big bucks on the open market and probably will not sign a discounted deal to stay with the Eagles. The Eagles know they will eventually have to spend major money on Donovan McNabb and they will need to use the franchise tag to hold him if negotiations go slow. In tagging Trotter, they lose the use of that protective designation for the length of the linebacker's deal. Believe me, Joe Banner won't let the ripple effect of a top-five salary deal for Trotter devastate his future negotiations with other young stars. In New York, the Jets were willing to put a transition tag on left tackle Jason Fabini but they really wanted to get him signed instead. That transition tag would have thrown a $4.4 million charge on a team already over the cap. Worse, under the transition label, Fabini could have still gone out and tried to strike a deal with another club. The Jets would have had the right to match the offer and retain Fabini -- a no- brainer -- but New York would be vulnerable in this case because of its cap situation (which is why the Jets couldn't franchise Fabini for just $500,000 over the transition level). A team with cap space that wanted Fabini could have constructed a deal with a high cap value this year and the Jets wouldn't have been able to match the contract. (The Jets know all about that technique; they used it themselves when they went after Curtis Martin a few years ago.) Fortunately for New York, the club reached a five-year deal with Fabini on Thursday. There's another issue that should never be overlooked when it comes to free agency, especially this year. There is no state income tax in Florida and Texas. If a player gets a multimillion dollar offer from the Bucs or the Cowboys, it will mean a few extra hundred thousand dollars in his pocket. When I negotiated contracts for the Jets, teams from Florida and Texas used that trick against me all the time when they were after the same players I was. For a team like the expansion Texans this could translate into two or three extra veteran players on a 53-man roster. Clubs with transition players need to watch out for Houston. Maybe that was the rationale the Eagles used in putting the franchise tag on Trotter ... for now. Pat Kirwan, who spent 12 years as a pro football coach, scout and personnel administrator, is an NFL analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNNSI.com.
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