Lost among all the excitement over the franchise tag yesterday was the news that although the Kansas City Chiefs tagged WR Dwayne Bowe, they did leave the door open for his potential departure.
There are two types of franchise tags. The “exclusive” tag, means that that no other team can negotiate with the player. The “non-exclusive” tag means that the player is free to talk to other teams and receive offers. If the player gets an offer from another club, the team that applied the tag has the right to match the deal. If they choose not to match, then the team offering the player the contract must give the tagging team two first round draft picks.
The Chiefs applied the non-franchise tag to Bowe.
I can’t say I blame them. They did the same thing with LB Tamba Hali last offseason. The fact of the matter is, no player, save a franchise QB, is likely to see a team pay two first round picks for their rights. Bowe is a great player but I can’t see any NFL team forking over two first round picks as well as a huge contract, just to pry him away from Kansas City. If some team is crazy enough to throw two first round picks at the Chiefs for Bowe the Pioli would likely help him pack his suitcase.
Still, the odds of that happening are almost non-existent.