Will the Browns use the Franchise Tag This Offseason?

Talking about the franchise tag, and whether or not the Cleveland Browns have a reason to use it this offseason.

Author:
Brandon Little
Publish date:
Jan 18, 2023 9:06 AM EST

In this story:

Cleveland Browns

Since coming back to Cleveland, the Browns have used the franchise tag just two times. One came in 2011 with kicker Phil Dawson, then last season David Njoku was tagged, though it was just a placeholder. So, the question is, will the Browns use the franchise tag for just the third time?

The quick answer is no, and it is pretty simple. Cleveland does not have a player pending to be a free agent that is worthy of the tag. Coming into the season, you could see a slight scenario where the team used it on Jadeveon Clowney, but even that would have been unlikely. Clowney put that thought to bed with a poor season and eventually exit that has him waiting for free agency to start.

Because the franchise tag comes at a high cost, it's always a touchy thing to use. The cost for the tag is the average of the top five paid players at the position, you can see the full expected tag numbers here from the great people at Over the Cap.

The following players are set to be free agents from the Browns this season:

QB Jacoby Brissett
TE Pharaoh Brown
DT Taven Bryan
DE Jadeveon Clowney
OT Michael Dunn
CB Thomas Graham Jr.
CB A.J. Green
S Ronnie Harrison
OT Chris Hubbard
RB Kareem Hunt
TE Jesse James
RB D’Ernest Johnson
ILB Deion Jones
LB Jordan Kunaszyk
DE Chris Odom
C Ethan Pocic
DT Ben Stille
LB Sione Takitaki
ILB Anthony Walker Jr.
DE Stephen Weatherly
CB Greedy Williams
DE Chase Winovich

Out of these players, as mentioned none are worth tagging. Though there are a few names that Cleveland will want to bring back. The door has closed for Kareem Hunt in Cleveland many believe, but if the market is not there for him there is a slight chance he could return. I would not put my money on the latter.

Jacoby Brissett's 11 games with the Browns will forever be remembered, but now he is going to get a chance to go play elsewhere.

Linebackers Sione Takitaki and Anthony Walker Jr. look like two players that could be back in Cleveland in 2023. Takitaki has spent the duration of his pro career with the Browns and has become a very good run-support defender during that time. Though Walker's season ended early in the season, he showed some of his best football in those few weeks. The defense was never the same after Walker was sidelined, though the issues were deeper than that.

Bringing Walker back to start at the MIKE backer would be a safe bet for new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, perhaps they have something else in mind though.

There is no need for Cleveland to use the franchise tag in 2023, which is a good spot to be in. Now, they'll have to decide which players are worth trying to retain from the 2022 roster.

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