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Yesterday was the deadline for National Football League teams to use the franchise tag on players. There were already four players that had been tagged by their teams and yesterday two more players joined that list.

Coming into yesterday Tony Pollard of the Dallas Cowboys, Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders, Evan Engram of the Jacksonville Jaquars and Daron Payne of the Washington Commanders had already had the franchise tag placed on them by their respective teams.

Yesterday just before the deadline for teams to use their franchise tags the New York Giants agreed to 4-year $160 million dollar deal with quarterback Daniel Jones. That allowed the Giants to use their franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley.

The other player who had the franchise tag place on him yesterday was no surprise at all as the Baltimore Ravens used a franchise tag on quarterback Lamar Jackson.

The most interesting thing was the fact that the Ravens used the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson. That means that he’s free to negotiate with other teams. If Jackson does come to an agreement with another team the Ravens have the right to match that offer. If Baltimore decides not to match the offer Jackson would receive from another team the Ravens would get two 1st round draft picks in return for him.

More or less what Baltimore did was they’re allowing the other teams in the NFL to set Jackson’s market. As you know the biggest sticking point between the ravens and Jackson during their negotiations was the guaranteed money that the quarterback wanted. By applying the non-exclusive franchise tag to Jackson Baltimore will be able to see if there’s another team in the league that will be willing to guarantee all the money in a contract offer to Jackson.

If Jackson doesn’t find an offer from another team and he is unable to come to an agreement with the Ravens on a long term deal he’ll play the 2023 season for a salary of $32.416 million dollars.

The three running backs that were tagged Pollard, Jacobs and Barkley would play for a salary of $10.091 million dollars next season if they can’t agree to a deal with their respective teams. Engram would play for the tight end salary of $11.345 million dollars and Payne a defensive tackle would receive $18.937 million dollars next season.

Not just Jackson, but all of the players that received the franchise tag from their teams got the non-exclusive tag, so they’re all eligible to talk to and sign an offer from another team. It seems doubtful that any of the franchise tagged players besides Jackson would receive offers from other teams as it would be tough to give up two 1st round draft picks for anything other than a franchise type of quarterback.

It will be interesting to see if any of the teams that appear to be in the market for a starting quarterback will step up and offer Jackson a contract.

There has already been some talk the Atlanta Falcons might be a team that makes Jackson an offer, but you also have to wonder if the New York Jets or the Carolina Panthers could also make an offer. The New Orleans Saints signed Derek Carr earlier this week, so they’re out of the quarterback market, but Carr’s old team the Las Vegas raiders have an opening at quarterback.

Let me know what you think. Did the Ravens make a good gamble on using the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson and allowing him to get offers from other teams? Or do you think that they might be taking too big of a risk and could lose Jackson to a team that makes a big offer that they can’t or won’t match?

Don’t forget that with Jackson as their quarterback Baltimore had the 2nd highest scoring offense in the NFL behind only the Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs. After Jackson went out injured the Ravens went from one of the top offenses to one of the bottom scoring offenses.

The only other quarterback on the Baltimore roster right now besides Jackson is Anthony Brown who made one start last season. Tyler Huntley who started for Games for the Ravens last season and played in six games is a free agent.

It will be interesting to see if or how many of these franchise tagged players get new contracts or if any of them decide to hold out if they can’t come to a new deal with their respective teams. I guess will have to follow along as we get closer to the start of what the NFL calls their “new year”.

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