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The Jets have used their franchise tag on free agent to be kicker Nick Folk.
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
I can't really say I'm in love with this move.
Don't get me wrong. Folk was great in 2013. It's just this makes his cap number over $3 million according to reports. That is a tremendous amount of space to use on a kicker. And a career year at Folk's age usually does not repeat itself. It feels like the Jets are paying based on past performance instead of what will happen going forward.
It is possible this is a precursor to a longer term extension at a lower cap figure, but I'm not a big fan of that approach either. Tagging Folk gives him a ton of leverage. He can walk away from the table at any point and sign the deal. Kicker performance tends to fluctuate from year to year so it is not really a good idea to give long-term deals at the position.