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It's officially franchise tag season. Teams can begin applying the franchise tag to players and we expect to see plenty of action after last year's record 21 players were tagged, which broke the previous records of 14 set in 2009 and 2011.
The CBA has a clause in it that the franchise tag period is between 22 and 8 days prior to the start of the new league year (which is March 12). The Chiefs can apply their franchise tag inside that window, presumably to Branden Albert or Dwayne Bowe.
In other words, we WILL have clarity of Branden Albert vs. Dwayne Bowe and the franchise tag by March 4, the end of the franchise tag period. We have discussed and will continue to discuss the various strategies at play here.
Read more: Chiefs GM says no 'clear-cut' No. 1 QB | 1st vs. 2nd round QBs, 20-year comparison
The franchise tag amounts are no longer calculated via the top five average salaries at each position. Instead it's a more complicated formula but it ends up being similar numbers. Below are the projected cost of the franchise tag numbers, subject to change before March 12. That receiver number would not apply to Bowe. Since he was tagged last year. Bowe is eligible for a 120 percent increase of last year's pay if he is tagged again, which would put his number over $11 million.
CB: Franchise: $10.668
DE: Franchise: $10.984
DT: Franchise: $8.306
K/P: Franchise: $2.926
LB: Franchise: $9.455
OL: Franchise: $9.660
QB: Franchise: $14.642
RB: Franchise: $8.079
S: Franchise: $6.798
TE: Franchise: $5.962
WR: Franchise: $10.357