[aragornzxl]

I know that the franchise tag usually keeps a player in a team when he is a free agent. But what I dont get is why does the player (like lance briggs, for example) complain about it? Yes, they can not test free agency because of the franchise tag, but he is gonna get paid the top 5 salary of his position or 150% of his previous salary. He is making much more money than before, so why does he complain? Besides, isnt kind of an honor to know that your a very important part of your team, and your team will not let you go?

[CarolinaKitten]

Yeah, I'd love the franchise tag...ONE SEASON Asante Samuel and Lance Briggs are making over $7million and if they get tagged again the next year...they just keep making more money...WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL! As long as they keep franchising you until you get a deal done, that's fine, and if they really cared about their teams, they wouldn't skip training camp and 10 games of the season, they'd be there with the team...so a long term deal, sure they want to stay on the team, but by holding out, they are doing the opposite. And didn't Briggs turn down like a 4 year $30million contract? I think I heard that on NFL Network...that's a lot of money and there is no way they're going to pay him more, or even close to, what Brian Urlacher makes. I hate all this BS in the NFL...I wish they'd just get back to playing the game, but alas, we have to wait a while yet ....

[gymrat0187]

It's very simple, when a player gets to the point that they either want to negotiate a new deal with their current team or test the free agent market they are looking for long term deals of at least 3 years hopefully more. A Franchise tag means the team keeps you for one more year. Therefore no long term security, if the player gets hurt or their stats go down during that one year they stand to lose alot of money in the long haul. Even though these guys are making alot more money than us (remember $250,000 is the minimum wage) they want the same thing you want and thats job security, and also unlike us their careers last an average of 10 years or less so they are looking to make all they can before it's time to retire.
One thing I want to say about this subject before I close, it makes me sick when you see people complain about "the player is greedy, all they want is more money" when everyone on Y!Answers know that if we were lucky enough to be in their positions we would do the same thing, Get all you can before you have to retire.

[faq321123]

Risk of Injury. Playing in a contact sport like football leads to alot of injurys. A great linebacker, who got hurt will make nothing near the amount he would have if he were not hurt. Take the linebacker the Bengals just signed, ed hartwell. He had well over 100 tackles in baltimore, but got hurt last year, and signed with the bengals for less than he should have.

[burnt sienna]

you said it....he gets paid the average of the top 5......

that's not higher than everybody....therefore, the greedy aren't happy

the fact that it's a one year deal doesn't help things....who wouldn't like guaranteed money for years on end?

[mr_cj_jr]

Because it's only a 1 year deal instead of a long term deal.

If a franchise player gets hurt, he's pretty much done. He gets no salary the next season and teams would be leary of resigning an injured player to a long term deal.

Long term security is the answer.