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McLane: Eagles Unlikely to Use Franchise Tag
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The NFL’s deadline for franchise and transition tags is today at 4 p.m. and the #Eagles are unlikely to use either on safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson or any other player.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 7, 2023
You might recall Adam Caplan reported a few weeks back that the Eagles would tag CJGJ if a long-term deal is unable to be reached. Tagging him would give the Birds a $14.46 million cap hit, making him the 9th-highest paid safety in the NFL. He’d get a $12 million bump from the $2.5 million he earned in 2022 on the final year of his rookie contract.
Thing about the tag is that the Eagles never use it. They haven’t used it in a decade. You’d have to go all the way back to 2012 and DeSean Jackson to find the last franchise-tagged Bird. The only other players to be tagged were Michael Vick, L.J. Smith, Corey Simon, and Jeremiah Trotter.
The tag is not common with other teams either. Last year, 24 front offices did not use the tag at all, while seven of the eight players receiving it were on the offensive side of the ball.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com