By Tim Graham
The Buffalo Bills will need to commit $6.916 million if they
place the franchise tag on safety Jairus Byrd.
Official franchise- and transition-tag numbers were revealed today. Teams have until 4 p.m. Monday to use a tag to retain the rights of one player about to become an unrestricted free agent.
Not every team will use a tag, but Byrd is an obvious candidate if the Bills can't sign him to a long-term deal.
He is coming off his second Pro Bowl season and would be a hot commodity on the open market. NFL.com writer Gregg Rosenthal rated Byrd the league's fourth-best player in this year's free-agent class.
A franchise tag guarantees that player a one-year contract for an average salary of the NFL's five highest-paid players at his position or a 20 percent raise, whichever is greater.
There are two types of franchise tags. Exclusive prevents other teams from negotiating with that player, while the non-exclusive designation allows other teams to sign him to an offer sheet. If the original team declines to match the offer, then the player's new team must surrender two first-round draft choices to the original team.
Transition tags are rare. They guarantee the player a one-year contract for an average salary of the 10 highest-paid players at his position and provide the original team a right of first refusal if the player signs an offer sheet with another club.
Here are the numbers, as first tweeted by NFL Network reporter Albert Breer.
Franchise tag figures
- • Quarterbacks: $14.896 million
- • Running backs: $8.219 million
- • Wide receivers: $10.537 million
- • Tight ends: $6.066 million
- • Offensive linemen: $9.828 million
- • Defensive tackles: $8.45 million
- • Defensive ends: $11.175 million
- • Linebackers: $9.619 million
- • Cornerbacks: $10.854 million
- • Safeties: $6.916 million
- • Kickers, punters: $2.977 million
- • Quarterbacks: $13.068 million
- • Running backs: $6.97 million
- • Wide receivers: $8.867 million
- • Tight ends: $5.194 million
- • Offensive linemen: $8.709 million
- • Defensive tackles: $7.039 million
- • Defensive ends: $9.151 million
- • Linebackers: $8.358 million
- • Cornerbacks: $9.095 million
- • Safeties: $6.002 million
- • Kickers, punters: $2.7 million
tagged
2013 free agency | Jairus Byrd
