Franchise Tag Window Opens; Will Packers Use It on One of Their Standouts?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Beginning on Tuesday, NFL teams can use the franchise tag to retain the rights to a key free agent.

Will the Green Bay Packers use the tag on one of their bumper crop of free agents?

The answer almost certainly is no.

Packers Have Talented Free Agents

It’s not as if the Packers don’t have some talented free agents. Indeed, they have perhaps the best free agents in this year’s class.

Quarterback Malik Willis, albeit with a small sample size, led the NFL in passer rating the past two seasons. He could be the top quarterback on the market, depending on what the Colts do with Daniel Jones.

Left tackle Rasheed Walker has provided three steady seasons as a blind-side protector. It’s a premium position, which is why half the starters make at least $20 million per season (and many of the others are on rookie contracts).

Linebacker Quay Walker is one of six players with 100-plus tackles and five-plus tackles for losses each of the last four seasons. He set a career high with 128 tackles in 14 games this past season.

Receiver Romeo Doubs hasn’t had a 750-yard season or a 100-yard game (in the regular season) but has put up consistent production and is an excellent red-zone threat.

Defensive end Kingsley Enagbare has only 11.5 sacks in four seasons but is eighth in the draft class in quarterback hits and a strong run defender.

Center Sean Rhyan has proven himself to be a versatile performer in the run and pass game. He allowed just one sack in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus, while playing 462 pass-protecting snaps at center and right guard.

But Tagging Is Expensive

The price of the franchise tag or even the transition tag is incredibly expensive. The franchise tag is based on the average salary of the top five positions at a player’s position. If a franchise-tagged player signs an offer sheet from another team, the original team can match the offer or receive two first-round picks as compensation.

The transition tag is based on the average salary of the top 10 players at the position. A transition-tagged player only gives the original team the right to match the offer.

According to OverTheCap.com, here are the projections.

Quarterbacks: Franchise – $47.321 million. Transition – $40.799 million.

Receivers: Franchise – $28.824 million. Transition – $25.029 million.

Offensive line: Franchise – $27.924 million. Transition – $25.305 million.

Tight ends: Franchise – $16.319 million. Transition – $13.869 million.

Running backs: Franchise – $14.536 million. Transition – $11.728 million.

Linebackers: Franchise – $28.197 million. Transition – $23.613 million.

Defensive ends: Franchise – $27.322 million. Transition – $22.908 million

Defensive tackles: Franchise – $26.311 million. Transition – $21.608 million.

Cornerbacks: Franchise – $21.414 million. Transition – $17.951 million.

Safeties: Franchise – $20.876 million. Transition – $16.485 million.

Special teams: Franchise – $6.9 million. Transition – $6.24 million.

It’s not just the finances of tagging a player. It’s the salary-cap impact. For example, if the Packers were to tag Rasheed Walker, he would count $25.305 million against the salary cap once the league-year begins.

In most cases, the franchise tag is used in hopes of buying time to sign the player to a contract extension. The team and the player have until July 15 to hammer out a deal. Otherwise, he will play the season on the tag.

The Packers have in-house replacements set for most of their free agents, including 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan for Rasheed Walker, 2024 third-round pick Ty’Ron Hopper for Quay Walker, 2025 draft picks Matthew Golden and Savion Williams for Romeo Doubs and 2025 draft picks Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver for Kingsley Enagbare. There is no ready-to-go replacement for quarterback Malik Willis or center Sean Rhyan.

CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones mentioned the “long-shot” possibility of the Packers tagging Rasheed Walker in hopes of trading him, though it would seem unlikely that a team would give Walker a big contract and hand the Packers trade compensation. Plus, as mentioned earlier, the Packers would be stuck with the big cap number if a trade isn’t consummated.

Tenders Lack Logic

The rules of the franchise and transition tags, as agreed upon by the NFL and NFLPA, in some ways are nonsensical.

Off-the-ball linebacker is not considered a premium position by NFL decision-makers, a fact driven home by salaries at the position. However, for tagging purposes, pass-rushing outside linebackers from 3-4 schemes are considered linebackers. So, tagging Quay Walker at $28.197 million is a preposterous notion. The highest paid off-the-ball linebacker is San Francisco’s Fred Warner at $21.0 million. If the Packers were to tag Quay Walker, he’d top Warner’s pay by more than $7 million.

Packers’ Franchise Tag History

The Packers have used the franchise tag only five times in its 33-year history. Getting back to tag-and-trades from earlier in the story, the Packers in 2022 did just that with All-Pro receiver Davante Adams, who they traded to the Raiders for first- and second-round draft picks.

The Packers also tagged defensive tackle Ryan Pickett in 2010 (resulting in a contract extension), defensive tackle Corey Williams in 2008 (resulting in a trade to the Browns), receiver Antonio Freeman in 1999 (resulting in a contract extension) and running back Dorsey Levens in 1998 (resulting in a contract extension).

The transition tag has been used only six times over the past decade. In 2018, the Bears used it on cornerback Kyle Fuller. The Packers signed Fuller to an offer sheet worth $56 million over four years, which Chicago matched.

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Packers Have Talented Free Agents

But Tagging Is Expensive

Tenders Lack Logic

Packers’ Franchise Tag History

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