How does the NFL franchise tag work and how much do players get paid?

The franchise tag is a relatively simple process, but the ramifications can be big for both teams and players.

With the NFL offseason wrapping up, one of the bigger storylines left is which players on the franchise tag will be left playing under the one-year tender. Seven teams used the franchise tag, and while most of the players involved signed long-term deals, there’s a hard deadline of July 17 to get that extension done, and a handful of players are still on the clock.

The franchise tag is essentially a one-year contract that guarantees a predetermined salary for players. The salary amount is set by the averaging the top five salaries by position, or if it’s higher, 120 percent of a player’s salary the previous season. So players like quarterbacks and defensive ends will have a much higher tag salary than positions like kicker or punter.

Here are the NFL’s official franchise salary numbers for the 2017 season.

Quarterbacks: $21.268 million
Running backs: $12.120 million
Wide receivers: $15.682 million
Tight ends: $9.780 million
Offensive linemen: $14.271 million
Defensive tackles: $13.387million
Defensive ends: $16.934 million
Linebackers: $14.550 million
Cornerbacks: $14.212 million
Safeties: $10.896 million
Kickers/Punters: $4.835 million

Teams can only use the tag once per year. There are three different types of tags a team can assign.

Types of NFL franchise tags

Exclusive

Just what the name implies. The player is locked into his team and cannot negotiate with any other team during the free agency period.

Non-exclusive

The player is allowed to negotiate with other teams, but if a competing team makes a free agent offer, the original team has the right to match it. If they don’t match the offer, they get two first-round picks in compensation. In other words, this is basically a convoluted trade scenario.

Transition tag

Similar to the non-exclusive tag, except the player gets paid an average of the top 10 salaries at his position, rather than top five. Transition-tagged players are free to negotiate with other teams, but unlike non-exclusive players, the original team gets no compensation if it fails to match an offer.

Once a player gets tagged, that’s when the real drama begins. Both sides have until July 17 to negotiate a long-term contract. This ramps up the sense of urgency. Teams don’t want to use the tag because it ties up a huge chunk of their salary cap for just one year. The players don’t like it because they don’t have any financial security beyond that one year, and have almost no leverage outside of threatening to hold out. If they fail to agree to a long-term deal before the deadline, the player is set for his one-year contract.

Fortunately for most players, they’re often able to secure a new contract with their team and the franchise tag doesn’t have to come into play — at least until the next offseason.

Here’s the full list of players who got tagged in the offseason:

• Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell (exclusive)
• Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins (exclusive)
• Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Melvin Ingram (non-exclusive)
• Los Angeles Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson (non-exclusive)
• Arizona Cardinals linebacker Chandler Jones (non-exclusive)
• New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (non-exclusive)
• Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Kawann Short (non-exclusive)

The Chiefs were seemingly close to tagging Eric Berry for a second time, but they were able to get a new contract worked out, making him the highest-paid safety in the league.

Meanwhile, Washington gave Cousins the tag for the second straight year. He’s set to make around $24 million this season if they can’t get a new deal done before July 17. Johnson was also tagged again and will contract talks haven’t gone anywhere in months, so he’ll likely play out 2017 on the tag.

Ingram, Jones, Short, and Pierre-Paul all worked out long-term deals with their respective teams.

With the July 17 deadline coming up, Cousins, Johnson, and Bell are the only franchise players to not sign a contract extension. If that day passes without a long-term deal, all three will be free agents once again next offseason.