Should the 49ers Place the Franchise Tag on One of Their Free Agents?

There are a couple of players, if not more, at least worth considering for it.

Franchise tagging season officially opened on Feb. 21.

The 49ers are free to use the franchise tag on one of any of their pending free agents. Mar. 7 is the deadline to utilize it, so there isn't a rush for the 49ers to decide yet. The franchise tag is a tool that teams can use to retain a player for the next year but forces a team to pay that player the average of the top-five salaries at their position.

There are a couple of players, if not more, at least worth considering for it. Mike McGlinchey is one player who could garner it, so the 49ers do not have to scramble looking for a right tackle this offseason. It allows them more time to find and groom a suitable replacement for later. Although, he would fetch a hefty price of around $18 million.

Jimmie Ward is another player who is worthy of it given that the 49ers would be down a starting safety. Both he and Tashaun Gipson are free agents, so the 49ers could bide their time by tagging Ward and giving them flexibility. His tag price would be around $14 million. McGlinchey and Ward are just two examples of players who would garner consideration. It's been several years since the 49ers have utilized this method. Perhaps this is the year they break that streak.

So, should the 49ers place the franchise tag on one of their free agents?

It's not even worth it. No soon to be free agent on the 49ers is worth the one-year rental. And really, the only ones who should get glanced at for the tag are McGlinchey and Ward. At that point, the 49ers should just give them a new contract. The only way the tag would work is if they felt incredibly desperately to keep one of them due to the doubt that they could fill their departure sufficiently.

One of these two should be brought back. It would sting the 49ers to lose an incumbent right tackle and a solid, versatile defensive back. If the price to tag one of them wasn't too much to stomach, then I could see and would advocate the 49ers doing so. McGlinchey isn't worth the $18 million and Ward is too questionable with his injuries to entrust that much despite how good he is.

The 49ers should re-sign Ward with a backloaded, or fairly spread-out cap hit centric contract. Let McGlinchey walk because it really is time to move on and upgrade there. Ward it is just a matter of keeping him healthy. Other notable free agents who could garner consideration for the franchise tag are Robbie Gould, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Jake Brendel. The only one that makes sense of them is Gould, but I don't see it.

The franchise tag will once again remain unused by the 49ers.