2024 NFL franchise tag window opens: What you need to know about the Jaguars, Josh Allen

The franchise tag window is officially set to open as the NFL continues through its offseason schedule. Starting Tuesday at 4 p.m. teams will be permitted to place franchise or transition tags on players they want to prevent from leaving their team and hitting unrestricted free agency.

For the Jacksonville Jaguars, this means they can begin making decisions on a variety of players, including outside linebacker Josh Allen who is the team's likely prime candidate to be tagged.

Allen just finished the final year of his rookie deal, playing on the fifth-year option last season. Allen's in line for a massive payday after finishing 2023 with a career-high, franchise-record 17.5 sacks.

What is the NFL's franchise tag? When have the Jaguars used it?

The franchise tag is a contractual device NFL teams can use to hold a player to their team for at least another year.

A franchise tag is valued at the average of the five highest-paid players at the position or 120% of the player's previous salary — whichever is higher, according to NFL rules. A tagged player will play one year under the value before being set to enter the open market again.

If a team applies a non-exclusive franchise tag to a player, he can seek a contract from another team, however, the original team will have the right to match any offer given by an outside team. If the original, tagging team wants to allow the player to league, the team signing the player will have to give the original team two first-round picks.

If the team assigns an exclusive franchise tag, that player cannot negotiate with anyone other than his original team.

Last year, the Jaguars used the non-exclusive franchise tag on tight end Evan Engram. Engram never signed the tag but did sign a contract extension ahead of the league's July 15 deadline to sign players to long-term deals.

Including Engram, the Jaguars have used the franchise tag nine other times, including on safety Donovon Darius three times from 2003-05. Most recently, the Jaguars used the franchise multiple times on left tackle Cam Robinson (twice in 2021-22).

Just eight players total have received the tag from the Jaguars including Engram, Darius, Robinson, tight end Marcedes Lewis, kicker Josh Scobee, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and Tony Brackens.

When is the NFL's franchise tag deadline?

Teams are allowed to use the franchise tag between Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. ET to March 5 at 4 p.m. ET. Teams can tag one player and can only use either the franchise or the transition tag, not both.

Will Jaguars' Josh Allen or Calvin Ridley receive the franchise tag?

The Jaguars have not stated publically that they'll use the franchise tag, but Baalke's words about Allen and the likelihood of him being back with the team in 2024 raised eyebrows.

"I'm not going to commit to anything right now relative to the franchise tag," Baalke said. "At the same token, Josh Allen's going to be a Jaguar next year."

So, in no uncertain terms, Baalke indicated earlier this year that Allen will be suiting up in black and teal next year. Whether that will be via the franchise tag or not remains the question, but clearly, that option is wide open.

Allen's new defensive coordinator would like to see him return, too.

Among the team's impending free agents, the only other player the franchise tag makes sense for is receiver Calvin Ridley.

Ridley finished last year as the team's top wideout with 76 catches for 1,016 yards and eight touchdowns after missing essentially the previous two years due to a suspension and a sabbatical.

Ridley is unlikely to be tagged or retained by Jacksonville before the new league year starts on March 13. If the Jaguars re-sign Ridley to an extension before the start of the new league year, the Jaguars will owe the Falcons a second-round pick this year.

If he is not signed to a new deal before the new league year and makes it to the open market, the Jaguars will owe the Falcons only a third-round pick this year.

What are the projected franchise tag costs for a receiver or linebacker?

Given Allen has lined up almost exclusively as an outside linebacker, it stands to reason that the Jaguars would be obliged to apply the linebacker value franchise tag to Allen rather than the defensive end tag.

The NFL has not yet posted concrete values for the tags, but CBS Sports contributor and former NFL agent Joel Corry projected tags for each position group in 2024.

Corry projected the franchise tag for a linebacker at $22,794,000. For reference, a defensive end franchise tag would cost the team $20,247,000, according to Corry's projections.

The projected franchise tag number for a receiver, according to Corry, is $20,714,000.

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X,  formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 2024 NFL franchise tag window opens: What will Jaguars do with Allen?