The Indianapolis Colts try their greatest to hedge their bets in the case of Daniel Jones, and it’s led to a scenario we seldom see within the NFL: use of the Transition Tag. It’s a transfer no staff has made since with a quarterback since 1996, so it’s comprehensible should you’re completely misplaced when the time period is being thrown round.
The Colts positioned a $37.8M Transition Tag on Jones, which permits groups to barter with the quarterback as in the event that they had been a free agent, however provides the Colts the best of first refusal on any contract. This may permit them to match the contract, just like a restricted free agent within the NBA or NHL. The rationale groups don’t use this tag is twofold — firstly, it’s thought-about a dangerous strategy in the case of coping with a free agent (and we’ll focus on this extra in a bit), however extra importantly, utilizing the transition tag means a staff can’t use the Franchise Tag on that very same participant. You’re roughly caught with precisely what another person will provide, or paying near-franchise tag charges for a man. Sometimes, groups prefer to have their very own freedom in these conditions.
So why did the Colts use this tag? Flexibility. It saves them a small margin of wage cap area (roughly $6M) over the franchise tag, which they hope will permit them to make a much bigger contract provide to WR Alex Pierce who they hope to maintain.
Up to now the Transition Tag would result in some wild situations with groups placing Poison Tablet clauses in contract provides. These had been riders added to contract provides with the only objective of creating it near-impossible for the tagging staff to signal the participant. This has occurred two instances within the mid-2000s, with the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks getting right into a transition tag battle over two key gamers.
On account of this back-and-forth the NFL added language into the 2011 Collective Bargaining Settlement, which banned using poison tablet clauses that would end in uneven compensation. That doesn’t imply the Colts transfer doesn’t carry important danger.
There may be nonetheless an out of doors probability somebody needs to make a big-time provide to Daniel Jones, seeing him as doubtlessly the following Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold to thrive in a brand new metropolis. This successfully handcuffs the Colts’ free company plans, as a result of they don’t know their finances for the quarterback place. It’s unlikely that somebody will hit Jones with a giant provide, however it’s a danger.
Now we wait to see how it will play out. It’s completely probably the Colts will both attain a long-term take care of Jones or just pay him the $37.8M this season, however there’s at all times wiggle room for one thing bizarre to occur. By no means doubt the NFL’s means to get bizarre.
