- Steve Young - 1993 49ers - Extended.
- Jim Harbaugh - 1996 Colts - Signed Tender. Extended a month later.
- Drew Brees - 2005 Chargers - Signed Tender. Left for Saints a year later.
- Matt Cassel - 2009 Pats - Signed Tender. Traded to KC. Extended with KC months later.
- Kirk Cousins - 2016 Commies - Signed Tender. Exclusive franchise tagged in 2017. Signed Tender. Left for Vikings in 2018.
- Lamar Jackson - 2023 Ravens - Extended.
None of these quarterbacks signed or even negotiated offer sheets with another club. Only once has a non-exclusive franchise tagged player of any position started the process of negotiating with another team. That one instance was an extreme situation in which bridges were burnt and the relationship was no longer reconcilable. Washington had traded for Sean Gilbert in 1996 with 1 year left on his contract. Gilbert had a great year that season and was seeking a market deal. Washington didn't want to pay him the market deal he wanted. Gilbert and his agent tried to negotiate. Washington refused, held firm on their original offer, and exclusive franchise tagged Gilbert. The team also began leaking to the media that Gilbert was selfish for wanting a market deal. Gilbert got pissed and said he'd sit out for the year if a long-term deal wasn't worked out. Casserly didn't like the threat, so he went on the record and told the media that if Gilbert held out the 1997 season, the team would franchise tag Gilbert again in 1998.
Gilbert held out that 1997 season and Casserly tagged him with the non-exclusive franchise tag the following offseason. Gilbert, his agent, and the NFLPA then sued the team/league. They argued that the threat made by Casserly showed the team was acting in bad faith with their use of the franchise tag and therefore it should not be allowed to apply. That Gilbert should be a free agent. The arbiter in the case decided for Washington, stating that the team had offered Gilbert a contract prior to applying the franchise tag to him, meeting the requirements set forth by the CBA. Washington wanted to move on from Gilbert and Gilbert didn't want to play for Washington. Casserly signed Stubblefield in free agency and traded for Dan Wilkinson. Washington worked other teams at the owners meetings to trade Gilbert. Carolina was the only team interested as they had plenty of cap space and a need for DL talent. Washington wanted a 1st round pick in the 1998 draft to replace the pick they gave up to acquire Wilkinson as part of any trade package. Carolina wasn't willing to part with their 1998 first-round pick, ending the trade talks. Carolina was still interested in obtaining Gilbert so they went the offer sheet route. There was a presumption that the picks had to be in the immediate drafts, such that Carolina would need to put up their 1998 and 1999 first-round picks. Carolina interpreted the CBA as simply two first-round picks. So they negotiated an offer sheet with Gilbert and put up their 1999 and 2000 first-round picks as compensation. Carolina's interpretation of the CBA was the correct one and Washington took the two picks Carolina offered.
Other clubs simply do not sign non-exclusive franchise tagged players with the hope the prior club does not match. Once the player signs an offer sheet, such a contract would obviously be a top-51 contract and therefore count against the new clubs salary cap. This would be happening at the same time as the start of free agency. The prior team has 5 days to match the offer sheet, which means 5 days of cap space being tied up instead of being used in free agency. Non-exclusive franchise tagged players cannot negotiate with other clubs until the official start of free agency. There is no "legal tampering period" for tagged players.
When other clubs are interested in acquiring non-exclusive franchise tagged players, those clubs will trade for those players, not sign them to offer sheets. Recent non-exclusive franchise tagged players that were traded include Brian Burns, L'Jarius Sneed, Davante Adams, Yannick Ngakoue, Jadeveon Clowney, Frank Clark, Dee Ford, Jarvis Landry. The league and the PA noticed this trend and implemented some changes in the 2020 CBA to prevent some bad faith uses.
With respect to a trade involving any non-exclusive rights player subject to a Tender or Qualifying Offer who is a Nonexclusive Franchise Player or a Restricted Free Agent who is subject to a Qualifying Offer with Draft Choice Compensation, the following restrictions shall apply: (i) the Clubs may not agree to draft choice consideration that is greater than the draft choice compensation specified for the Tender or Qualifying Offer; (ii) the trade may not include the acquisition of another player's Player Contract; and (iii) the player and the NFLPA must approve in advance any such trade that takes place during the Signing Period.In short, non-exclusive franchise tagged players cannot be traded for more than 2 first-round picks, the trade cannot include any other players, and the player/PA have refusal rights through July.
Getting back to Lamar, the Ravens knew that other teams do not mess with offer sheets for non-exclusive franchise players. Teams rarely go through the offer sheet process on lesser tags. The Ravens were always in on keeping Lamar. They were in a position where the only team that could realistically outbid them for Lamar were the Bears, who were still infatuated with Justin Fields at the time. The Ravens saw an opportunity where they thought they could win the negotiation with Lamar and went for it. They were hoping Lamar, negotiating his contract himself, would get spooked into signing the Ravens low-ball offer when nobody came running to him with an offer sheet. It didn't work and actually caused Lamar to dig in further.
While the Ravens avoided having to pay Lamar a fully guaranteed contract, the slow rolling of the negotiation did cost the team 2 years they could have spread new spending onto. Market contracts went up 35M as others got their deals done ahead of Lamar. The Ravens also conceded some personnel decision making influence to Lamar, which seems pretty big considering how the Ravens organization have typically run.
[ Edited by Typecast on Jan 15, 2025 at 6:24 PM ]