After using the franchise tag in each of Sean McVay’s first two seasons as head coach, the Los Angeles Rams haven’t tagged anyone since 2018. That’s seven straight years without using the franchise tag, which is hardly a bad thing.
The franchise tag is a way to keep a pending free agent for another year, but at a high cost and at the expense of potentially tarnishing the relationship with that player.
Teams can begin using the franchise and transition tag from Feb. 17 to March 3, and though some players around the NFL – hello, George Pickens – are sure to be tagged, the Rams seem unlikely to use theirs again.
Looking at the Rams’ list of pending free agents, there’s only one viable candidate for the tag: Kamren Curl. And as good as he’s been for Los Angeles, it’s hard to imagine the Rams tagging him for $20.9 million, which is how much the franchise tag is estimated to be for a safety this year.
Even the transition tag at $16.5 million should be too rich for the Rams, particularly after signing Quentin Lake to a three-year, $38.3 million extension.
Curl is sure to get a big raise from the two-year, $9 million deal he signed with the Rams in 2024, but he won’t hit $16.5 or $20.9 million on his next contract. Spotrac estimates his market value to be $10 million per year, projecting him to land a four-year, $40.2 million contract in free agency.
That would be half the cost of the franchise tag, which is why the Rams are unlikely to tag him.
There isn’t a single other Rams player who would be worth tagging, either. Not Tutu Atwell, Roger McCreary, Cobie Durant or Ahkello Witherspoon. Tyler Higbee also wouldn’t make sense.
Though it’s a sign of the Rams having a weak free-agent class, it’s a positive for the Rams because they’re unlikely to lose many impact players this offseason. They haven’t tagged anyone since Lamarcus Joyner in 2018 and it’s tough to imagine them using it on Curl (or someone else) this year.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: NFL franchise tag: Do Rams have any logical candidates?