[BB2W]

If you have a player that is a free-agent, but both sides cant agree on a long term deal.....then you can put the franchise tag on him. He will then remain on your team with a one year contract, and the sallary is determined by the average of the top five salaries at that position in the NFL. If another team comes and steals him from you, they must give you a 1st round pick, and maybe more.

The reason that the Steelers never "franchise" is because it is a last resort kinda move. It does not help the teams cap situation. It is not a very good thing to do....

For example if we can't sign Hines, and we franchise him he would get paid the average salary of Moss, Harrison, T.O., and the other highest paid receivers. That would be somewhere around 7 to 10 million for just one year. If they were able to sign him to a big dollar six year deal he would not be reaching the 10 mil mark until the fifth or sixth year of that contract, and the first year of that deal would probabally be around the 4 million dollar range.