The Denver Broncos have to make a decision on their 2023 franchise tag by Tuesday (March 7) at 2 p.m. MT. If the Broncos to not place their franchise tag on a player by that deadline, the tag will go unused in 2023.
Denver’s only logical candidate for a franchise tag this year is defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones. Broncos general manager George Paton said at the NFL combine last week that he has had positive talks with Jones.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with Dre’Mont,” Paton said. “Dre’Mont is a very good player. He’s one of our core players on defense. They’ve been very positive.”
Denver has used a franchise tag eight times in the past. Each time, the team went on to reach a long-term deal with the tagged player.
Here is the explanation for the (non-exclusive) franchise tag, courtesy of the league’s official website:
A player who receives the non-exclusive franchise tag is free to negotiate with other teams. The player receives a one-year deal with a salary set at the greater of (a) the cap percentage average for his position (an amount equal to the sum of the franchise-tag figures at a player’s position over the previous five seasons divided by the sum of the salary caps over the previous five seasons multiplied by the current year’s salary cap) OR (b) 120 percent of his PYS (the player’s cap number from the previous season, minus any performance incentives).
Placing a one-year franchise tag on Jones as a defensive end would cost the Broncos $19.73 million in salary cap space this season. Denver could save money in the short term by giving Jones a long-term extension instead, and the club seems unlikely to tag him before the deadline.
Jones is expected to test the NFL’s free agency market, and he can begin negotiating with other teams on March 13 before the official start of NFL free agency on March 15. The Broncos probably won’t tag him, but the team does want to re-sign Jones this offseason.
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