Use of franchise player designations increased dramatically this year. More players were given franchise tags than over the last two years combined. Fourteen players received franchise tags while 11 designations were used collectively in 2018 and 2019. Usage hasn't been this high since a record 21 teams placed the designation on players in 2012, when there was Darryl Strawberry Jersey almost a 20 percent drop in the franchise tender amounts from 2011 as the method of calculating these figures changed.Teams will probably be more judicious with the franchise player designation out of nece sity in 2021. The and NFLPA have set a $175 million salary cap floor for 2021 with league revenues declining due to COVID-19. Placing a franchise tag on someone may be a luxury that a majority of teams can't afford.A look at how franchise tags work is below. The projected 2021 franchise numbers and an examination of the best candidates to receive the designations next year follows. can retain the rights to one of its impending free agents in 2021 with the use of a non-exclusive or an exclusive franchise tag during a 15 day period from Feb. 23 to March 9. There is some confusion on how franchise tenders are calculated. Prior to the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement, non-exclusive franchise tags had been an average of the five largest salaries in the prior year at a player's position or 120 percent of the prior year's salary of the player, whichever was greater. For franchise tag purposes, salary means a player's salary cap number, excluding workout bonuses and most Neil Walker Jersey other performance bonuses.The 120 percent and five largest salaries provisions have remained intact but the formula component is now calculated over a five year period that's tied to a percentage of the overall salary cap. More specifically, the number for each position is determined by taking the sum of the non-exclusive franchise tags as determined by the original methodology for the previous five seasons and dividing by the sum of the actual NFL salary cap amount for the previous five seasons. The resulting percentage, which is known as the Cap Percentage Average in the CBA, is then multiplied by the actual salary cap for the upcoming league year.This non-exclusive tag allows a player to negotiate with other NFL teams but if he signs an offer sheet with another club, his team has five days to match the offer. If the offer is not matched, his team will receive two first round picks as compensation from the signing team. Under the exclusive franchise tag, a player will receive a one year offer from his team that is the greater of the average of the top five salaries at his position once the restricted free agent signing period of the current league year has ended (April 23 for 2021) or 120 percent of his prior year's salary. The non-exclusive number is initially used as placeholder and adjusted upwards if the exclusive calculation dictates once restricted free agency ends. A player cannot negotiate with other teams with the exclusive franchise tag.The transition tag has been used with le s frequency than the franchise tag. It is based on the average of the top 10 salaries at a player's position using the same methodology as non-exclusive franchise tag calculations. The 120 percent provision also applies. Teams have the same right of first refusal as with franchise tags but do not receive any draft choice compensation for declining to match an offer sheet.The Travis D'Arnaud Jersey chart below contains an early look at the 2021 franchise tags. I keep track of the salary data nece sary to do the calculations under the franchise and transition tag formulas. I recently confirmed with my NFL sources the 2020 data entering the formula. The tags numbers are preliminary because the numbers can't be finalized until the 2021 salary cap is set in late February or early March. The $175 million salary cap floor is being used to calculate the figures. If revenues are better than expected, the 2021 salary cap could be higher but will likely remain below the current level of $198.2 million.PositionCurrentProjected% changeCornerback$16,338,000$14,441,000-11.61%Defensive end$17,788,000$15,409,000-13.37%Defensive tackle$16,126,000$13,317,000-17.42%Linebacker$15,828,000$14,184,000-10.39%Offensive line$14,781,000$13,188,000-10.78%Punter/kicker$5,019,000$4,298,000-14.37%Quarterback$26,824,000$24,072,000-10.26%Running back$10,278,000$8,300,000-19.24%Safety$11,441,000$10,176,000-11.06%Tight end$10,607,000$9,206,000-13.21%Wide receiver$17,865,000$15,326,000-14.21%By CBA rule, the players currently under a one year franchise tag, like quarterback , are prohibited from signing long term until the regular season ends. The are precluded from designating offensive tackle , who was acquired from the Washington Football Team during the 2020 , as a franchise or transition player. His contract was reworked during the offseason to include a clause preventing either tag.The , , , , , are among the teams that will be hard pre sed to use a designation because of challenging salary cap situations next year. Each team currently has more than $198.2 million in 2021 salary cap commitments according to NFLPA data. The Eagles and Saints have just under $263.16 million and a little more than $283.15 million respectively. DAL QB #4 Prescott is playing this season on a $31.409 million franchise tag because of an inability to reach a long term agreement Steven Matz Jersey with the Cowboys. He was having the best year of his career when he sustained an open or compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle against the five games into the season. Through the quarter mark, Prescott was on pace to shatter NFL single season pa sing yards record (5,477). Prescott was projecting to 6,760 pa sing yards for the season. He also completed a career high 68 percent of his pa ses in the five games he played.Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has indicated that Prescott's injury doesn't change Dallas' plans for him. A second franchise tag in 2021 for $37,690,800 at the CBA mandated 20 percent raise was an absolute certainty before Prescott got hurt. Signing Prescott to a long term deal will likely cost the Cowboys more than the four year, $156 million contract extension averaging $39 million per year received from the as the start of the regular season was approaching.Things would get really interesting if Prescott played the 2021 season on another franchise tag. Prescott would become an unrestricted free agent in 2022 or receive a third franchise tag at a 44 percent increase over the 2021 figure for $54,274,752. CAR QB #1 A Adrian Gonzalez Jersey lack of interest after Newton's release by the in March led him to sign a one-year deal with a base value of $1.75 million worth up to $7.5 million through incentives. Newton has had mixed results in trying to resurrect his career after being plagued by foot and shoulder injuries over the last two seasons. He got off to a hot start this season before testing positive for