Lions Can Use Franchise Tag Starting Tuesday

Read more on how the Detroit Lions can start deploying the franchise tag Tuesday

Welcome to the franchise-tag period, Lions fans. 

The period kicks off today (Tuesday, Feb. 23), and will run until Tuesday, March 9. 

Detroit general manager Brad Holmes now has exactly two weeks to decide whether to apply the franchise tag on the team's impending free agents. 

The two players that have the best chance of receiving the franchise tag this offseason are wide receiver Kenny Golladay and defensive end Romeo Okwara. 

Of the two, Golladay is the more likely to have it given to him. If such does occur, the Lions will be on the hook for approximately $16.5 million for one year.  

In case you were wondering, the price tag for the non-exclusive franchise tag, the type which would be applied to Golladay, is based off either the average salary of the top-five, highest-paid players at one's position or whatever 120 percent more than the player's previous year's salary would come out to be -- whichever of the two would be greater. 

Golladay will be pricey to bring back on the "tag" -- accounting for nearly nine percent of the total cap for 2021. But, the advantageous aspect for Holmes & Co. in Detroit's front office is that they could then flip the 2017 third-round pick for draft assets. 

Kirthmon F. Dozier, Imagn Content Services, LLC

And by trading Golladay, the Lions would no longer be responsible for paying the Northern Illinois product the salary associated with his franchise tag. 

The new front-office regime in Motown could also use the tag as a way of buying time to negotiate a long-term contact extension with the star wideout. 

With that said, though, only one of the 14 players franchise tagged in 2020 inked a multi-year contract with the organization that applied the tag to them. 

Meanwhile, if the Lions allow Golladay to walk in free agency, they will receive a compensatory, late third-round pick in next year's draft. 

Holmes might have no intention of bringing back Golladay to be a part of Detroit's 2021 roster. 

Instead, the first-year GM could be solely focused on using the 6-foot-4 pass-catcher as a piece to help expedite the franchise's rebuild. If that's the case, he must now decide whether he will get better compensation for the 2019 Pro Bowler via franchise tagging him and flipping him in a trade or by letting him leave the organization via free agency and receiving the aforementioned compensatory pick. 

It's a big-time decision facing Holmes, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming days.

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