The New York Jets have placed the franchise tag on kicker Nick Folk according to their official twitter account:
We have placed the franchise tag on K Nick Folk- http://t.co/NjZXMBttja pic.twitter.com/wJr6E7YgOI
— New York Jets (@nyjets) February 28, 2014
Folk was set to become an unrestricted free agent on March 11 but hitting 91% of his field goals last season made retaining him a priority.
The team had until March 3 to use the tag on Folk which is a contract offer for one-year at $3.556 million guaranteed. Now tagged a team who actually signs Folk would surrender two first round draft picks to the Jets, which simple won’t happen.
The recent signing of Panthers kicker Graham Gano to a 4-year $12.4 million deal along with this year’s signings of Bears kicker Robbie Gould and Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey to similar multi-year salaries made using franchise tender ($3.556 million) the correct move then allowing Folk to test free agency.
Folk will remain a Jet for at least the 2014 season and both sides have until July 15 to negotiate a long term contract locking him up for future seasons along with probably lowering his salary cap cost for 2014.
