Kirk Cousins, Melvin Ingram and 5 others receive NFL franchise tag

The NFL franchise tag period has come and gone and the Kansas City Chiefs are not among the seven teams who applied the tag in 2017.

The Kansas City Chiefs were among the teams most likely to apply the franchise tag this offseason. With both Eric Berry and Dontari Poe available as free agents to be, the team was faced with serious decisions about two of the most coveted players that could potentially enter the open market. Instead, the Chiefs reached a long-term deal with Berry and were prepared to let Poe explore his possibilities.

Now that the franchise tag deadline has officially ended, only seven teams used the tag to their benefit. Washington applied the tag to their starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins, which will hopefully lead to a long-term deal, although they could still potentially trade him — perhaps to San Francisco where Kyle Shanahan is waiting as head coach.

The seven total franchise tags are as follows:

• Kirk Cousins, Washington
• Chandler Jones, Arizona Cardinals
• Melvin Ingram, Los Angeles Chargers
• Trumaine Johnson, Los Angeles Rams
• Le’Veon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers
• Jason Pierre-Paul, New York Giants
• Kawann Short, Carolina Panthers

The fact that Short has been tagged is good news for Poe as he seeks to become much wealthier as one of the best defensive tackles available. Poe is three years younger than his primary competition on the open market — Brandon Williams from Baltimore and Nick Fairley from New Orleans — which bodes well for a future long-term deal that should await him.

Ingram being tagged is also important to the Chiefs because that means that San Diego will retain both Ingram and Joey Bosa as a dynamic pass rushing tandem heading into next season. If the Chargers could ever patch the right holes and right the ship, with Phillip Rivers at the helm and that duo on defense, there’s enough pieces in place to expect a quicker turnaround than other non-playoff teams.