Last week we had a post in The Feed<\/a> from regular Field Gulls commenter Donut Receipt, which linked to The Ringer NFL podcast speculating that the Seahawks could use the less heralded transition tag on Walker. While it\u2019s not an impossibility, it\u2019s also both risky and extremely unlikely.<\/p>\nThe key differences between the transition tag and franchise tag<\/p>\n
Transition tags are cheaper than franchise tags<\/p>\n
If the Seahawks wanted to franchise tag Walker, for example, then it would cost them $14,293,000 and immediately count against the salary cap whether he signs or not. Under the transition tag, Walker\u2019s one-year deal would also be fully guaranteed and immediately count against the cap, but the salary would be \u201conly\u201d $11,323,000. Saving over $3 million sounds pretty good! Except\u2026<\/p>\n
There is no exclusive transition tag<\/p>\n
An exclusive franchise tag means a player cannot negotiate with other teams, whereas a non-exclusive franchise tagged player can speak with other teams and receive an offer sheet.<\/p>\n
Transition tags are only non-exclusive and therefore players are free to negotiate elsewhere and sign an offer sheet. Just like the non-exclusive franchise tag, the original team has five days to match any offer sheet. But here\u2019s the problem\u2026<\/p>\n
There is NO draft compensation for losing a player on the transition tag<\/p>\n
If an offer sheet to a non-exclusive franchise tagged player is not matched, then the original team receives two first-round picks as compensation.<\/p>\n
If an offer sheet to a non-exclusive transition tagged player is not matched, then the original team gets nothing in return. Zip. Zilch. Nada. There are no draft picks coming back\u2014tagging a player also negates the compensatory pick avenue\u2014hence this is a riskier move that is seldom made.<\/p>\n
Transition tag usage is very rare<\/p>\n
Dating back to 2014, only six players have been given the transition tag, most recently Kyle Dugger in 2024 before he signed an extension with the New England Patriots (only to be traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers last year). For context, eight players had a franchise tag designation just in 2024.<\/p>\n
An example of a team losing a player with no draft compensation in return is the Miami Dolphins, who transition tagged tight end Charles Clay in the 2015 offseason. The AFC East rival Buffalo Bills signed him to a five-year, $38 million contract and Miami opted not to match.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, the Green Bay Packers gave Chicago Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller a four-year, $56 million offer while he was transition tagged back in 2018. Chicago matched the offer and he stayed with the Bears.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not go down the transition tag road as Seahawks fans<\/p>\n
I know such clauses are now defunct, but the Seahawks know a thing or two about a transition tag gone wrong. Steve Hutchinson, \u201cpoison pill\u201d language from the Minnesota Vikings, Super Bowl window immediately closes, and the rest is history<\/a>. Seattle has not used the transition tag in the 20 years since then.<\/p>\nDon\u2019t tag, let them test the market = Possible compensatory draft picks in 2027 if they\u2019re not re-signedNon-exclusive franchise tag, let them test the market = Two first-round picks in compensation if an offer sheet is not matchedTransition tag, let them test the market = Nothing if an offer sheet is not matched<\/p>\n
The Seahawks are unlikely to tag any of their free agents, but even less so with the transition tag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In just two days, we should know whether or not the Seattle Seahawks will stay true to form…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,238,237,261,61123,6545,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-787084","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-salary-cap","14":"tag-seattle-seahawks-free-agency","15":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787084","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=787084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}