JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars are using the nonexclusive franchise tag on edge rusher Josh Allen, keeping the star in town but creating another set of questions for the team.
The move comes after Allen had the best season by a pass rusher in franchise history, finishing with 17.5 sacks. The franchise tag guarantees Allen a one-year deal worth roughly $24 million. The team has until July 15 to come to a contract extension with Allen or else he will play the season on the tag.
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The move was somewhat expected, along with cutting veterans Rayshawn Jenkins and Darious Williams, which the team did earlier Tuesday.
“We were not able to reach an agreement on a contract extension with Josh before today’s deadline, and thus, we have tagged him,” general manager Trent Baalke said in a statement. “We certainly value Josh’s leadership on the field, in the locker room and in the community. Our objective to keep Josh in Jacksonville in the coming years remains unchanged and negotiations will continue.”
With Allen getting the franchise tag, that creates a question mark around receiver Calvin Ridley.
The ideal scenario would have been signing Allen to a long-term contract and then using the franchise tag on Ridley. Instead, Ridley is expected to now hit free agency for the first time in his career and is expected to be the top available receiver on the market.
It’s certainly not the best of scenarios for the Jaguars.
The franchise tag typically chafes players and their representatives because it trades long-term security for a short-term window. The expectation is for the Jaguars to still get a deal done with Allen and he hasn’t indicated that he’d like to leave Jacksonville.
The team ran into this last year with tight end Evan Engram, who had a career season in 2022 on a one-year prove-it contract with the Jaguars. The team tried to get a deal done with Engram before the tag window closed, but it lingered up to the deadline.
While the franchise tag ties a player to a team, it can oftentimes create a period of animosity. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson had a very public feud with Baltimore last year after getting the nonexclusive franchise tag and requested to be traded. Jackson eventually agreed to a mega extension with the Ravens.
The nonexclusive tag differs from the exclusive tag in several regards.
The exclusive tag doesn’t allow teams to negotiate an offer sheet with a tagged player. The player must be paid the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position during the current year, or 120% of that player’s previous salary. Typically, quarterbacks are the only players to receive this. The nonexclusive tag means players can sign offer sheets with other teams, but the team holding the tag has a right to match any offer.
If Allen is signed away from the Jaguars, the team he signs with would have to give Jacksonville two first-round draft picks.