JAGUARS CAN FRANCHISE TAG ALLEN ROBINSON STARTING TUESDAY

The franchise tag period begins Tuesday.

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This offseason, for the first time in a half decade, the Jaguars will be faced with the potential of having to franchise tag a player. Allen Robinson, who was a 2014 second round pick, will become a free agent on March 14th if the Jaguars don't franchise tag him or come to terms on a long term deal. After a dominant showing in 2015 and a respectable 2016 campaign, Robinson is viewed by most as the best impeding free agent wide receiver and one of the best players at any position in this free agent class. 

His ability to locate, track, and come down with deep balls makes him a special talent in today's NFL. But a torn ACL ended his 2017 campaign just three plays into the Jags first game of the regular season. Even coming off the ACL surgery Robinson is held in high regard. 

On Tuesday (2/20) the franchise tag period opens. The Jaguars will have from then until March 6th to franchise tag Allen Robinson (if you're confused about what the franchise tag is or how it works here is some useful information). Of course, the best option for the Jaguars would be to work out a long term deal with the 24 year old star in the making, but his camp may be looking for more than the Jaguars are willing to offer a receiver coming off an ACL tear with a history of injuries. It may also hurt Robinson that the Jaguars were able to have their best offensive season in recent memory with him on the sideline. 

Robinson spoke on NFL Radio last week and had quite a bit to say about his recovery process and his upcoming contract situation:

"Every team across the league knows what I'm capable of, so that's (his injury) not really an issue . . .  "It's not one of those things where it happened at the end of the year." . . . "I'll be cleared well before the season starts and well before training camp."

The bottom line is the Jaguars are a much better team with Robinson than without. Even with the injury history the front office should do everything they can to sign Robinson to a long term deal, but if all else fails they should and most likely will franchise tag Allen Robinson, giving them another season to try and work out a long term deal. If the Jaguars do franchise tag Robinson he'll cost them nearly $16 million in 2018.
 

Stay tuned for more. 

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