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Yesterday was the first day that a National Football League team could designate a player with the franchise tag. No team made that move so far, but there should be some coming very soon.

There are two kinds of franchise tags that teams can apply to a player.

There is the “exclusive” franchise player must be offered a one-year contract for an amount no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position as of a date in April of the current year in which the tag will apply, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. Exclusive franchise players cannot negotiate with other teams. The player’s team has all the negotiating rights to the exclusive player.

Then there is the “non-exclusive” franchise player must be offered a one-year contract for an amount no less than the average of the top five cap hits at the player’s position for the previous five years applied to the current salary cap, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. A non-exclusive franchise player may negotiate with other NFL teams, but if the player signs an offer from another team, the original team has a right to match the terms of that offer, or if it does not match the offer and thus loses the player, is entitled to receive two first-round draft picks as compensation.

Now the first player that comes to mind that might get the franchise tag is Lamar Jackson the Baltimore Ravens quarterback. Jackson acts as his own agent and there’s been no real news on if Jackson and the Ravens have had any contract talks. Baltimore has made offers in the past, but the holdup has always been how much guaranteed money there is in the contract.

If you remember when the Cleveland Browns traded for Deshaun Watson, they signed him to a 5-year $230 million dollar contract and all of the money was guaranteed. Watson has shown that he’s a quality NFL starting quarterback, but if given the choice almost everybody would take Jackson over him, so that leads to the contract issue.

There has been some talk that Baltimore might do something like an NBA sign and trade with Jackson and if they did what could they expect in return. Using Watson as the baseline again when the Browns traded for Watson they sent the Houston Texans three 1st round picks, a 3rd round pick and two 4th round picks. When the Denver Broncos acquired Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks they sent the Seahawks two 1st round picks, two 2nd round picks, a 4th round pick, a 5th round pick and three players. Jackson would be ahead of both Watson and Wilson on any quarterback list, so what would he bring back in return? and is there a team willing to pay that type of price for him?

Jackson started 12 games for the Ravens last season, but he missed the final four regular season games and the Ravens playoff game due to a knee injury. There were multiple people that came out and said that Jackson should’ve played in the playoff game and that he skipped it to punish the Ravens for not giving him a new contract. Knee injuries are tricky, but all of the reports had Jackson returning before the regular season ended and when he didn’t everyone expected him to play in the playoff game.

Now matter what Jackson’s reasoning was for sitting out be it injury or like was speculated to punish the Ravens it’s not going to hurt his trade value or contract negotiations.

I would be shocked to see Jackson in another teams uniform next season, but there are times when both sides are at an impasse that they can’t resolve, so will have to see how this plays out. Do you see Jackson and the Ravens working this out? Or do you think there’s a chance that he’s playing for a new team next season?

The other team that has some work to do when it comes to deciding what to do with their franchise tag is the New York Giants.

The Giants actually have two players that they’ll have to decide between as their starting quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquan Barkley are both free agents.

It’s expected that the Giants will use both of their franchise tags, but which player gets the exclusive franchise tag, and which one gets the non-exclusive franchise tag.

It would be better for the Giants salary cap to give Barkley the exclusive franchise tag, but by giving Jones a non-exclusive franchise tag it would give another team that’s looking for a quarterback the opportunity to possibly sign him.

Barkley player in 16 of 17 games for New York last season and rushed for 1312 yards while Jones had his best season at quarterback under new head coach Brian Daboll.

The Giants were a surprise last season going 9-7-1 and getting into the playoffs as a wild card team. New York won their first playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings before being eliminated by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round.

What do you see the Giants doing with their franchise tags? Who gets the exclusive franchise tag and who gets the non-exclusive franchise tag?

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.