AJ McCarron Wins Grievance Against Bengals and Will Become Free Agent (Signs with Buffalo)

kyallie said:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sp...-wins-grievance-becomes-free-agent/335520002/

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Non-exclusive franchise tag: This is the most commonly used tag. When most people refer to the "franchise tag" it's generally the non-exclusive version to which they are discussing. It is a one-year tender offer to a player for an amount no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player's position over the last five years, or 120 percent of the player's previous salary, whichever is greater. The player can negotiate with other teams. The player's current team has the right to match any offer, or receive two first-round picks as compensation.Exclusive franchise tag: A one-year tender offer to a player for an amount no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player's position for the current year, or 120 percent of the player's previous salary, whichever is greater. The player's team has all negotiating rights to the player. The bump in pay scale (current average salary versus averaging past five years of data) means only the crème de la crème get this tag (think: Drew Brees or Von Miller).
Transition tag: Think of this as the "you are pretty good, and we might want to keep you, but aren't willing to put a ring on you ourselves" tag. The transition designation is a one-year tender offer to a player for an amount that is the average of the top 10 salaries at the position -- as opposed to top five. It guarantees the original club the right of first refusal to match any offer the player might receive from another team, but no compensation if the team chooses not to match.
Each team can only use one of the above tags in a given year -- meaning they can't designate both a franchise and transition player. A player can be tagged up to three times by his team, with a bump in pay each time.




Teams can rescind the franchise or transition tag -- as we saw with Josh Norman last year -- if the offer sheet hasn't been signed. Once the sheet is signed, the player's salary is guaranteed for that season. A rescinded tag counts as a tag, meaning a team can't designate one player, rescind it and use a new tag on another player in the same year.
The current franchise numbers aren't available until the NFL's salary cap opens, but below is a rundown of the 2016 franchise tag salaries to use as a baseline (assume these numbers will get bumped up). Via the NFLPA:
Quarterback: $19.953 million

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JustNeedMe81 said:

Few things to point out... Bengals can still claim him through Several options:

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