NEW YORK — If the Washington Redskins decide to place the franchise tag on quarterback Kirk Cousins, it will cost them $19.95 million for 2016 under the values agreed upon by the NFL and the players' union.
Cousins is one of the more high-profile players whose contracts have expired, and quarterbacks carry the biggest tag numbers.
The franchise designation is worth the average of the top five salaries at a player's position or 120 percent of the value of his 2015 salary, whichever is higher. Teams secure the rights to continue negotiations with that player even as the league's free agency period begins, which this year is March 9.