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Jets safety Marcus Maye has signed his franchise tag.
#Jets S Marcus Maye has accepted his franchise tag, agent @ErikBurkhardt says. He’s in the fold for $10.612 million.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 20, 2021
The Jets tagged Maye after a productive season where he was voted team MVP. The two sides were unable to work out a long term deal.
In a practical sense, all this really does is take an offseason distraction off the table. It is likely that Maye was always going to sign the tag. The question is always the timing. In theory Maye could have waited. Since he would not have been a signed player he could have skipped the mandatory parts of the offseason program or even training camp without being fined. That won’t happen now.
The tag also gives the two sides a couple more months to work out a long-term contract extension. That seems like something that would be in the interest of both parties.
Maye was a second round pick by the Jets in 2017 out of Florida.