The NFL has done a great job over the years to remind people that they don’t want people to like their sport. Their system is unlike other popular sports in the US. They play games once a week which adds a lot more anticipation for each game. They also don’t have series in the playoffs which means any team on any day can win. Despite all of this the NFL does so many other things that as a huge fan of the sport gets me pissed off. The one lately that has got me going is the franchise tag. Every year during NBA free agency there is tons of excitement and huge deals that go down that are game-changing. People begin to wonder why this doesn’t happen in the NFL. There are a bunch of reasons why this doesn’t happen but the franchise tag is a big reason. Each team can prevent one star from hitting free agency with the franchise tag. This right away limits one star from each team. This every year takes out the 10 big names that could have been free agents. Free Agency is now left usually with decent players that have injury concerns. Every once and a while you get a Levon Bell that hits free agency but that is very rare. NFL owners only live by this so they can hold on to all of their star players until they are too old and then move onto the next guy. I think for the NFL’s sake the franchise tag needs to be removed. The NFL is nonexistent from February till September except for a couple of days for the draft. Free agency very rarely excites many people as it should because all the big names never hit free agency. In the NBA almost every offseason dramatically changes the league which keeps fans excited on what will happen. With the current system in the NFL, the top teams stay on top for a while and it takes times a long time to build their way up into the top. If the franchise tag becomes eliminated this can change how all NFL teams are built. In the NBA the Clippers were the 8th seed and in one offseason signed two superstars and now are legit title contenders. In the NFL there is no way that through the free agency you can build a championship contender. I think the idea that big players could always be on the move makes the NFL a way more exciting league as a whole. With the way, the league works the owners will never get rid of it. The NBA is growing quick again in popularity after a couple of bad seasons so the NFL needs to react quickly and make some big changes. Getting rid of the franchise tag would not create big headlines at first but when free agency comes along the NFL will be glad they got rid of it.

Categories: NFL

Dax