This article is part of our NFL Free Agency series.
Perhaps you've heard the goofy saying that there's "no such thing as an offseason" in the NFL. Technically, it isn't true, but it does serve to make a point about the never-ending appetite to report and consume news — or even just rumors — involving North America's most popular professional sports league.
NFL "news" keeps going even when there's nothing actually happening, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised that the league is taking a business-as-usual approach to its offseason schedule while the rest of the world grinds to a halt for Covid-19. At least for now, everything is proceeding as originally planned, with Monday at 12 p.m. ET marking the deadline to apply franchise tags and the beginning of the "legal tampering" period.
Most players can't officially sign with new teams until Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, but many of the moves will be verbally agreed upon before that time. Monday brought more big news than anyone could've expected, including a trio of blockbuster trades, a glut of franchise/transition tags and a few early reports of signings that won't be official until later this week. Even RG3 is impressed!
Free Agency Frenzy is an understatement
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 16, 2020
The Tags
Final Answer: 14 teams use the franchise tag, and one uses the transition tag. There were only 11 franchise tags the last two years combined pic.twitter.com/UtAmYsWwW6
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) March 16, 2020
History suggests most of these guys will end up signing long-term contracts