{"id":759109,"date":"2026-02-17T22:17:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/759109\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:17:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:17:45","slug":"why-the-seahawks-most-likely-wont-franchise-tag-kenneth-walker-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/759109\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Seahawks most likely won\u2019t franchise tag Kenneth Walker III"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The window to slap the franchise tag on pending NFL free agents opened on Thursday. ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter may have caused a stir with his wording for what the Seattle Seahawks will (or won\u2019t) do regarding Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III. His \u201cleague sources\u201d indicate that the Seahawks are unlikely to tag him by the March 3 deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The stuff about extending other free agents and extending Jaxon Smith-Njigba is just fluff. If history is a guide, it doesn\u2019t matter how many other FAs or impending extensions the Seahawks have when it comes to affecting their franchise tag usage.<\/p>\n<p>The Seahawks rarely use the franchise tag<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">John Schneider has been the Seahawks general manager for 16 seasons. The only tagged players he\u2019s ever had are kicker Olindo Mare (2010) and Frank Clark (2019). They famously traded Clark to the Kansas City Chiefs, picking up an extra first-rounder in the process and using it on L.J. Collier. Mare played on his franchise tag and never signed an extension, leaving in free agency the following offseason.<\/p>\n<p>It makes little financial sense for 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It\u2019s estimated that tagging <a href=\"https:\/\/overthecap.com\/franchise-transition-and-rfa-tenders\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Walker would cost Seattle $14.5 million<\/a>, which would be more than Kyren Williams or Christian McCaffrey is set to make in 2026. This would be a one-year deal that comes off the salary cap, so if he only plays on the franchise tag then all $14.5 million would be guaranteed and come off of Seattle\u2019s salary cap.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Sure, Walker could get tagged and sign an extension anyway, but it\u2019s not something the Seahawks have historically done. Walker playing on the tag would most likely mean he\u2019s not a Seahawk in 2017, because\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Running backs don\u2019t get tagged and extended often<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Only three running backs since 2010 have been franchise tagged and then received a new contract: Derrick Henry when he was with the Tennessee Titans in 2020, Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears in 2012, and Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens in 2013. All other backs over the last 12 offseasons have played on the tag and immediately left or sat out the whole season like Le\u2019Veon Bell did when he was tagged a second time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If Seattle is to keep Walker, John Schneider will either let K9 test the market and then come back with the hometown offer or a deal will get done before he even enters free agency. But don\u2019t expect any franchise tag movement for K9 or anyone else on the Seahawks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The window to slap the franchise tag on pending NFL free agents opened on Thursday. ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,238,237,261,6545,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-759109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-seahawks","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-seahawks","13":"tag-seattle-seahawks-free-agency","14":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116088291527922786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}