The Seahawks used the franchise tag this offseason for the first time since 2010 when they opted to designate kicker Olindo Mare. Seattle placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on defensive end Frank Clark Monday afternoon.
NFL teams have until Tuesday, March 5 at 1:00 p.m. PT to decide whether or not to pull the trigger.
Three types of tags can be used, but clubs can only designate one player with one tag per season – either the exclusive franchise tag, the non-exclusive franchise tag or the transition tag. Tags can be rescinded, but still count against the one-tag rule. Click on each of the hyperlinks above for a primer on the ramifications of each designation.
Under the non-exclusive tag, Clark is set to earn at least $17.128M on his one-year contract tender. That number is based on calculations of the top five contracts at his position over the last five years. The NFL officially released the salary cap numbers for 2019 on Friday.
Since he was designated as non-exclusive, Clark is free to negotiate with other clubs, but if he does sign elsewhere, that team would owe the Seahawks two first-round draft picks.
Just because Seattle opted to tag Clark to keep him in Seattle through 2019, that doesn’t mean the long-term contract talks are over. Clark and the Seahawks can continue their negotiations on a new deal until July 15. If no extension is in place at that time, no further discussions can occur until Seattle’s final regular-season game of the year.
