What do people think about the franchise tag? It certainly kills what would otherwise be a very interesting FA period but I can understand why teams do it and if my team was about to lose its star player I would be thankful for it. On balance would you rather have, or not have, the franchise tag option?
Keep it. It allows teams a tool to keep thier players a bit longer with out shelling out huge guarenteed contracts. Players don't like it because they want long term security. As a fan I like the ability to keep my players aboard.
I like that it allows teams to prevent one guy from becoming an UFA and potentially losing a star to the open market. What I don't like is teams use it sometimes to get 1 year contracts out of guys who are deserving of a long term team (in recent memory, Matt Forte comes to mind). I like the franchise tag as a way to keep a guy from hitting the market, and give a lot more time and leeway for longterm deal negotiations. I don't like that it basically makes a player a year-to-year slave for an organization (while getting paid handsomely for it) while he could get injured and miss out on that longterm deal he deserves/would get on the open market if it wasn't for the tag.
The tag is ridiculous when teams are using it for kickers or punters. My thinking is that once you use the franchise tag on a player you should not be able to use it on any other player until the initial recipient is no longer on your team. Hence the term franchise player. That was the intent behind it but it has been watered down to the extent that it is really getting silly.
