You can't tell me that the Bills

[Ron C.]

couldn't have squeezed out a 2nd round pick from a team like the Jets for Winfield. As I have said before, we could have transition tagged AW (average of top 10 salaries) and traded his rights to the highest bidder. There is no way AW would have immediately signed the transition tender and passed up signing bonus money. The transition tag could have been withdrawn at any time. The only negative is that 5.something million would have had to be available under the cap for a few days until a deal was done.

[The Spaz]

Originally posted by Ron C.
couldn't have squeezed out a 2nd round pick from a team like the Jets for Winfield. As I have said before, we could have transition tagged AW (average of top 10 salaries) and traded his rights to the highest bidder. There is no way AW would have immediately signed the transition tender and passed up signing bonus money. The transition tag could have been withdrawn at any time. The only negative is that 5.something million would have had to be available under the cap for a few days until a deal was done.

I thought that if you franchised a player it is a given the compensation would be a 1st round pick.

[kardshark19]

I don't think we had a transition available. Only a franchise tag. May be wrong tho.

[don137]

One small problem with that theory. The Bills didn't have a transition tag left.

[Romes]

I can tell you that the bills couldn't have squeezed a 2nd round pick for Winfield because the Bills didn't have a transition tag to use.

They used their transition tag a few years back.

But also the transition tag just means that with any offer the Bills would have the right to match it. There is no compensation for a transition tag.

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

The only way that is possible is if the Bills were willing to take on Winfield's contract. What if they didn't get a buyer. They would be stuck with a player that for all intensive purposes they don't want anymore. Last year they were willing to take on Price but they didn't have to when Atlanta came calling.

[Tatonka]

how can guys like walter jones get franchised over and over.. how do they still have the franchise tag after using it twice but we use the transition tag a few year back and still dont have it available?

[Ron C.]

There are 3 types of tags (any of which a team can use):

1. Exclusive rights Franchise tag- No other team can touch the player

2. Franchise tag with compensation- two 1st round choices due the team who loses the player if they choose not to match

3. Transition tag- option to match, no compensation (unless team is willing to match and trade)

[Ron C.]

They would be stuck with a player that for all intensive purposes they don't want anymore.

The transition tag can be withdrawn at any time (as long as the player hasn't already signed the tender)

[Ron C.]

They used their transition tag a few years back.

You are confusing this version of the tag with the original, one time only, transition tag we used when we lost Will Woolford to the Colts?

Either way, it seems like a missed opportunity.

[Throne Logic]

So why don't we have a transition tag? Is someone currently tagged?

[Forward_Lateral]

I don't understand the franchise tag fully either. Someone from Jacksonville (I think Darius) has been franchised like 2 years in a row, is there a limit to this, or can you franchise a guy for his whole career?

[Jeff1220]

Originally posted by Ron C.


You are confusing this version of the tag with the original, one time only, transition tag we used when we lost Will Woolford to the Colts?

Either way, it seems like a missed opportunity.

I didn't know there was a new transition tag. When did that happen? As far as I know the transition tag was created as a one time thing to help teams transition into the current form of free agency. Once used, it's gone. The teams that have used them recently, never did before.

[Jeff1220]

Originally posted by Forward_Lateral
I don't understand the franchise tag fully either. Someone from Jacksonville (I think Darius) has been franchised like 2 years in a row, is there a limit to this, or can you franchise a guy for his whole career?

If the guy plays for the team under the tag agreement for 1 year, the tag is then over and can be reused, on the same player if necessary. Of course that means continually paying that player the top 5 salary at the position. If a long term agreement is made with a tagged player, the tag, I think, cannot be used again until that contract is up.

[Jeff1220]

...at least that's the way I understand it. I could be wrong.:huh:

[helmetguy]

Originally posted by Forward_Lateral
I don't understand the franchise tag fully either. Someone from Jacksonville (I think Darius) has been franchised like 2 years in a row, is there a limit to this, or can you franchise a guy for his whole career?

You can franchise one player at any time; but lose the tag until the contract runs out. A few years ago, we franchised John Fina, and signed him to a one-year deal. We then offered him a second, 6-year (I think) deal that would go into effect once the one-year deal ran out. The transition tags (originally two), as I understood the original CBA, are exhausted once they are used. Two were originally agreed upon for the "transition" from "Plan B" Free Agency into the current CBA. If I recall, there was a time limit on using one of them. It's going to take some digging to get the definitive word on it, but this is they way I seem to remember it.

[Ron C.]

The tag is available to a team each year if the tagged player plays under the one year tag or a long term deal is signed prior to or after specific dates:

If a Club and a player agree to extend (either separately or as part of a renegotiation) a Player Contract prior to July 15 in the League Year for which the Club designated the player as a Franchise Player, such Club shall also be deemed to have utilized its Franchise Player designation pursuant to this Section 9 for the full period of that extension. If a Club and a player agree to extend (either separately or as part of a renegotiation) a Player Contract on or after July 15 in the League Year for which the Club designated the player as a Franchise Player, such Club shall not be deemed to have utilized its Franchise Player designation pursuant to this Section 9 for the period of the extension, unless there has been a violation of the provisions of Article XXV (Enforcement of The Salary Cap And Entering Player Pool), Sections 1 or 2, with respect to such contract extension.

(b) Clubs will have a window, beginning the day after the last day of the Franchise Player designation period and ending 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the fourteenth day following the start of the League Year, during which, if the Club signs its Franchise Player to a multi-year contract or extension, the Club may nonetheless retain its Franchise Player designation rights the following year. (By way of clarification, if the League Year begins on March 1, the window will end at 4:00 p.m., New York time, on March 15.) If a multi-year contract or extension is not signed during the window period, the current rules continue to apply without prejudice or inference being drawn from the addition of this Section 9(b) in the January 8, 2002 amendments to this Agreement.