The NFL franchise window opens today, Tuesday, February 17, and runs through March 3 at 4:00 p.m.
The window may open today, but don’t expect a flurry of news. Most teams will wait until near the end of the window before making the mark. Using the deadline as a soft threat to get a longer-term extension before using the one-year tender is usually step one in the process. If it becomes clear that a deal won’t happen, then the game begins.
Once a mark has been used, the parties have until July 15 to negotiate a multi-year extension. If no deal goes through, the player will work under a one-year tender. The parties may agree on a different amount or additional incentives after the deadline, provided that the agreement is within a one-year time frame.
There are three different types of badges that clubs can use:
1. Non-exclusive franchise mark: The most common sign. When discussing the franchise mark, it is generally referring to the non-exclusive version. This 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 sign with other teams, but the current club has the right to match any offer or receive two first-round picks as compensation if he signs with another team.
2. Patent mark: As the name suggests, the labeling team has the sole right to negotiate with the tenderer. The monopoly raises the wage scale. The private label is a one-year tender that targets the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position for the current year or 120 percent of his previous salary, whichever is greater. We could call this the “quarterback tag” since it’s generally only used on players that other teams would be willing to give up two first-round picks to sign.
3. Transition marks: The transition tag is a one-year tender offer for the average of the top 10 salaries at the position — as opposed to the top five for the franchise tag. It gives the original club the right of first refusal to match any offers a player might receive from another club. The labeling team is not compensated if it chooses not to match a contract.
Each club can only use one offer per year. It can be revoked at any time before the player signs it. A player can be tagged up to three times by his team, with an increase in salary for each incident – the percentage of the salary cap taken up the third time generally makes it prohibitive.
A marked player can only be traded after he has signed the offer. Players with unsigned offers are technically not under contract and therefore are not susceptible to fines for missing voluntary offseason practices, including training camp.
The numbers have yet to be released as they are based on the NFL’s annual salary cap, which has not yet been officially announced for the 2026 season.
After the tag was used just twice last year – Tee Higgins and Trey Smith – we could see clubs utilize the system more in 2026, with George Pickens, Daniel Jones and Breece Hall among the players who could be tagged in the next two weeks.