Saints have only one franchise tag candidate

By Ross Jackson

February 17 marks the first day of the NFL offseason during which teams can place the franchise or transition tag on a player. There are several candidates outside of the New Orleans Saints facility to watch, as a tag by their team could keep those players from hitting free agency, thus reducing the talent pool on March 11 as free agency opens. 

Within the walls of the Saints’ Airline Drive facility, only one franchise tag candidate appears to make sense: cornerback Alontae Taylor.

Taylor has been the focus of many discussions centered around his pending free agency decision. But for New Orleans, a franchise tag assignment could bring all of the curiosity to an end.

The issue? The price. 

Per OverTheCap.com’s tag estimations, the franchise tag for a cornerback sits at $21.414 million. 

That amount would place Taylor between Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. ($20.25 million) and Dallas Cowboys corner DaRon Bland ($22.5 million) in average annual value (AAV).

While AAV is usually only a part of the story for contracts, though the most popular measuring stick of success, guaranteed money is usually the better signifier. Franchise tags are fully-guaranteed. While the accounting can be adjusted by reaching a long-term deal before the player actually plays on the tag, it’s quite the undertaking.

Guaranteeing $21.414 million in a single year would put Taylor above Houston Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. for the most guaranteed money at cornerback in the league on a per-year basis.

Though it’s available, Taylor’s unique role within the Saints’ defense will make it challenging to guarantee that kind of money on a one-year deal in the hopes of reaching an extension. The two sides discussed the possibility of extending Taylor’s contract before and during the 2025 season, per reports. However, a deal has still yet to be reached with less than a month to go before free agency opens.

Were Taylor a full-time boundary corner for the team, the idea of tagging and working on a deal wouldn’t be so farfetched. But with the specificity of what he’s asked to do in New Orleans, the strategy may be a hard one to embrace.

Teams have until 4:00 p.m. ET on March 3 to decide whether or not they want to place a tag on any players.