Smith Gets Franchise Tag

Posted by Stephen Rhodes on February 7th, 2008 filed in News

                                      

It sure didn’t take the Philadelphia Eagles long to designate the “franchise” tag on one of their players, did it?  According to Adam Schefter of NFL Network, the Eagles applied the franchise tag on tight end L.J. Smith; as a result, the team must offer Smith a one-year contract with a value equal to the average of the 5 highest-paid tight ends in the NFL - which in this case would be $4.522 million/year.

The Eagles can remove the tag from Smith at any time and make Smith an unrestricted free agent; if he signs the tender before it is revoked, the money in the contract is guaranteed.  Smith, a second-round pick in 2003, earned $920,000 in 2007.