NFL Franchise Tag window opens; Will Seahawks bother with it?

NFL teams have now entered a period of time (starting Monday, February 16th and extending to March 2nd) where they can place their team's Franchise Tag on outgoing free agents. The Franchise Tag is going out of style of late -- only four players got it last year, eight were tagged the year before, and these two lean years follow the banner year of 2012, where an NFL record 21 players were slapped with the Franchise Tag.

There's no telling how many players will get the dreaded tag this season, but it's a good bet that none of them will be with the Seahawks. Seattle's top remaining free agent is cornerback Byron Maxwell after the team re-signed Cliff Avril and K.J. Wright during the latter part of the season. According to an educated guess by NFL Network's Albert Breer, a franchise tag on a cornerback could end up being north of $13 million this season, well, well above the number the Seahawks would face if they were to sign him to a multi-year deal. Maxwell is still young and presumably getting better, so it doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense to use the tag there.

Other Seahawk free agents to consider include James Carpenter, Jeron Johnson, and Kevin Williams, but none warrant the respective $12.9M, $9.6M, or $11.7M price tags their respective positions would command.

Here's a guess at what each position group's franchise tag amounts are expected to be, according to Breer:

Quarterbacks: $18.51 million
Running backs: $10.93 million
Wide receivers: $12.80 million
Tight ends: $8.33 million
Offensive linemen: $12.93 million
Defensive tackle: $11.17 million
Defensive ends: $14.78 million
Linebackers: $13.17 million
Cornerbacks: $13.05 million
Safeties: $9.60 million
Kickers/Punters: $4.12 million