Peyton Manning and Mike Vick get hit with franchise tags

Both Peyton Manning and Mike Vick were given the franchise tag last week by their respective teams. One, however, will almost assuredly be given a new contract in the next few weeks, the other will likely have to play his way into a new contract.

NFL teams have the option of designating one player per year as their "franchise" player. The franchise tag is given to a player in lieu of a new contract once the player's contract has expired. There are two types of franchise tags, an "exclusive rights" franchise tag, and a "non-exclusive" franchise tag. When a team gives a player an exclusive rights tag, they must offer the player a one-year contract worth no less than the average salary of the top five paid players at that position or 120 percent of the player's salary from the previous season, whichever is greater. The "exclusive" part of the deal means that the player is not allowed to negotiate with any other teams. A non-exclusive franchise tag means the same thing, except that the player can negotiate with other teams, but the player's original team has the right to match any offer that the player may receive from other teams.

Most times, players don't like getting the franchise tag honor from their team. For them, it means playing in another expiring-contract year instead of signing a huge new deal with a large signing bonus. In the "franchise" year, a player could easily get hurt or under-perform, which lowers the amount of money he will be offered the following year by teams, when he finally does become a free agent. In the cases of Vick and Manning however, I think it may not be a bad thing for either player.

Both Manning and Vick were given an exclusive rights franchise tags, assuring that they will be in Colts' and Eagles' uniforms respectively in 2011.

The Colts made a similar move in 2004 when they placed an exclusive rights franchise tag on Manning on February 23rd, only to re-sign Manning to a seven-year, 98 million dollar deal a week later on March 2nd, nullifying the franchise tag deal. Expect a similar result this time around as the Colts have zero interest in losing Manning in 2012. As of now, the franchise tag will pay Manning 23 million dollars next season, which is 120 percent of his 2010 salary. Many believe that the move was made mainly because of the uncertainty of next year's NFL collective bargaining agreement, which is still unresolved. An owner lockout or player strike seems like it will be hard to avoid as the two sides battle over salary issues, NFL pensions and the owner-proposed 18 game regular season. The way the Colts see things, they have insurance now if there is a lockout or strike, since no other teams would be allowed to talk to Manning if or when a stoppage does take place. In the end, I'm sure the Colts will do everything in their power to re-sign Manning for a long-term deal. He is the face of their franchise and far and away their best player. Hell, he's the best player in the history of their franchise one could argue very easily. I don't think he has any intention of leaving either. The Colts have always put good skill players around Manning and he seems like a loyal guy. We'll see but I'd bet that they work out a deal before any type of work stoppage happens.

Vick on the other hand probably won't be getting a new contract until a few weeks into the 2011 season, if there is a 2011 season. And that's also assuming that he plays at the same level he did last season. Vick will be paid the average of the top 5 quarterbacks in the league which amounts to roughly 16 million in 2011. For a guy who declared bankruptcy a few years back and only got paid 1.6 million last year, he's got to be ecstatic. And although he probably would rather have been given a monster new contract worth 50+ million over several years, it's an amazing turnaround from being in prison only two years ago. If he goes out in 2011 and plays the way he showed he could in 2010, teams will be lining up to pay him a huge contract in 2012. More than likely though, if he does look like the Mike Vick of 2010, the Eagles will lock him up mid-season and keep him in Philly for possibly the remainder of his career.

It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out in the coming months with the collective bargaining agreement not resolved. How it affects free agency and re-signings is still yet to be seen.