TheOak

The original article is at the bottom, I have highlighted the parts that most people are unclear on.

Ill cut right through the first few paragraphs and start with Jimmy graham having the Non-Exclusive Franchise tag put on him.

How Other Teams Can Sign a Tagged Player

If the player has not signed his tender, then he is usually free (with one exception; see below) to negotiate with other teams up until one week before the start of the draft. The player is then allowed to sign one offer sheet with a team. That offer sheet is then presented to the team that franchised the player, who then has seven days to choose whether to match the offer sheet. If they choose to do so, the player stays with his current team, and they accept all terms of that contract.

If they decline to match the offer, then the player leaves, and the team signing the offer sheet must cough up two first-round draft picks, one in the current year's draft and one the following year. (Thus, any team, such as Oakland, that lacks a first-round draft pick in either of those drafts is shut out of the franchise tag market.) The article is from 2012

The cost for signing away a franchised player is so high, however, that it has not happened since before the last CBA was signed in 2006, and it is unlikely to happen this year, either.

Why Teams Can't Always Use the Tag

The moment the tag is issued, the entire amount of the tag counts against the salary cap. Thus, a team cannot use the franchise tag if it would put them over the salary cap. This is a problem for teams such as the New York Jets, who may not be able to franchise nose tackle Sione Pouha.

Why Players Sometimes Hold Out

Once the player signs the tag, he is obligated to attend any and all practices and has no guarantees of future income beyond that season. In other words, the player is assuming a significant amount of risk. This often leads to protracted holdouts, such as Asante Samuel's holdout in 2007 after he was tagged.

Why Some Players Don't Hold Out
First, once a player signs the tender, his contract for that season becomes fully guaranteed against skill, injury and salary cap maneuvers.

Second, few teams are willing to pay the two first-round draft picks required as part of the offer sheet. But teams are often willing to trade for such players for lower picks; such a trade can't happen, though, until the player signs the tender. (See previous line, once signed that money is guaranteed, guaranteed money is paid and becomes dead money for the team trading him away.)

The Biggest Myth Regarding the Franchise Tag

Sportswriters often conflate two issues regarding franchise tags (as Patriots fans have seen recently regarding Wes Welker). They often write with the assumption that assigning the franchise tag is the same thing as a player playing under the franchise tender for that season. The first does not guarantee the latter, as we have seen numerous times in the recent past.

2012 NFL Free Agency: How Franchise Tags Really Work | Bleacher Report

Definition of Dead Money - This is money subtracted from the cap for players no longer on a team. This can come from a number of factors including amortized signing bonuses and guaranteed contracts.


If Jimmy Graham signs his Franchise tag tender the Saints HAVE TO pay him the value of that tag because it is guaranteed... BEFORE they can release him or trade him to another team, that contract has to be fulfilled.