[OutsiderFan]

I'm confused by that statement. Are you saying free agents can't be franchise tagged? I thought that was the whole purpose of franchise tagging...preventing the single free agent that's most important to the team from leaving.

If a player's 5th year option - only available to first round picks - is picked up, the franchise tag cannot be used on that player. In effect, a team already used its franchise tag in a certain sense to get the 5th year at a discounted rate when they use the 5th year option, so they don't get to use another pay restricting tactic again.

There was nothing preventing the Niners from extending Bosa last offseason at a a lower price, but they didn't. They waited until he won DPOY and had even more value.

[OutsiderFan]

I'm confused by that statement. Are you saying free agents can't be franchise tagged? I thought that was the whole purpose of franchise tagging...preventing the single free agent that's most important to the team from leaving.

If a player's 5th year option - only available to first round picks - is picked up, the franchise tag cannot be used on that player. In effect, a team already used its franchise tag in a certain sense to get the 5th year at a discounted rate when they use the 5th year option, so they don't get to use another pay restricting tactic again.

There was nothing preventing the Niners from extending Bosa last offseason at a a lower price, but they didn't. They waited until he won DPOY and had even more value.