The Seahawks and the Franchise Tag

Starting today, the Seahawks (and all NFL teams) now have the right to place a Franchise Tag (or Transition Tag) on an impending free agent. It seems a bit unlikely that Seattle will exercise either of these options, as the crop of Seattle free agents is pretty limited.

Let's take a look:

Branch, Alan DT
Hauschka, Steven P/K
Hill, Leroy LB
Jones, Jason DE
Morrah, Cameron TE
Omiyale, Frank OL
Trufant, Marcus CB

That group can be whittled down to Alan Branch, Jason Jones, and Steven Hauschka. As Brian McIntyre points out, the defensive end franchise tag will cost $11M and the defensive tackle franchise tag would cost $8.3M, and while I'm not sure which position Jones would fall under (probably DT?), it doesn't really matter, because I don't see either of those guys getting the designation.

That leaves Steven Hauschka. If designated with the franchise tag, he'd get $3M - more than twice what he was paid last season ($1.26M).

For my thoughts on that, read this:

Seahawks 2013 offseason roster audit: The kickers - Field Gulls