Beginning on Tuesday, NFL teams will have the opportunity to franchise tag a player on their team, which locks the player up with a one-year deal at a salary at least equal to the average of the top five salaries at the position over the last five seasons.
It’s currently unclear if Jacksonville intends to take advantage of the franchise tag this season. Last year, it used the tag on Yannick Ngakoue, who was later traded to the Minnesota Vikings.
But if the Jags do choose to tag a player in 2021, there’s one clear-cut candidate: offensive tackle Cam Robinson. The fourth-year player’s rookie deal expired this season, and he is set to become an unrestricted free agent in a couple of weeks.
Jacksonville could choose to extend Robinson, who has developed into a solid player despite having some injury issues throughout the early part of his career. But if it doesn’t want to get locked up in a long-term deal (or wants to address the position in the draft), it could choose to tag him to keep him around for one more season, albeit at a bit of a high price tag.
The projected offensive line salary for the franchise tag this season is over $14.5 million by Over the Cap’s estimation. When looking at the yearly average of left tackles, Robinson would be tied at the No. 10 spot with Atlanta Falcons tackle Jake Matthews if franchised.
