Having a two-week franchise tag window is pointless, with two exceptions
The annual two-week franchise-tag window opened two days ago. To no surprise, no tags have been issued yet.
And, in many respects, there's no sense having a two-week tag period in a deadline-driven league. The opening of the window doesn't matter; the closing of it does.
But there's one exception. With the Scouting Combine a/k/a Tampering Central coming next week, applying the tag before heading to Indianapolis operates as a 'do not touch' message to the rest of the league. If the player has been blocked from the open market with the tag, teams that will otherwise line up potential free agents won't waste their time.
Then there's the fact that the window closes right after teams get back from Indy. Yes, deadlines drive action. Racing to comply also sparks screwups.
Remember the Elvis Dumervil fax-machine snafu? The failure to accomplish a trade of A.J. McCarron from the Bengals to the Browns as the trade deadline arrived? Waiting too long can lead to unforced error.
Notwithstanding the above, there aren't many no-brainer candidates for the tag this year. It might be only Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. It could be none at all.
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