Philadelphia Eagles: Will DeSean Jackson Sign the Franchise Tag?

With Juan Castillo confirmed as the defensive coordinator for 2012, whether or not DeSean Jackson will stay with the Philadelphia Eagles has been the talk of the town for the last fortnight. The young wideout will be a free agent in a month's time unless he reaches an agreement with Philadelphia.

According to the latest speculation, the Eagles will use the franchise tag on Jackson. However, this does not mean he will be with the team in 2012. Taking into consideration that Jackson held out through the first 11 days of training camp in 2011, he might follow this strategy again.

The franchise tag is nothing but a one-year deal that keeps the player with the team. Of course, the downside for the team is that it must pay the player at least the average of the top five salaries that were given the previous year to players of the same position.

In Jackson’s case, that is a lot of money. The wide receivers with the five highest contract figures in 2011 were Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Steve Smith and Miles Austin. The average of their salaries is a bit higher than $12.36 million.

Jackson made less than a quarter of this amount during his four years with the Eagles; his base salary in 2011 was $555,000.

Jackson won't find so much money elsewhere. No matter how much he values his set of skills, he knows that no one will offer him a top-five contract; if you ask me, he would be lucky to get a top-10 contract ($6-plus million). That said, I expect him to sign the franchise tag without any hesitation.

His future, though, might not be with the Eagles. Until now, the team has not rejected any scenario. Despite that, the relationship of the two parties is shaken, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Eagles traded him to another team.

For the moment, I'll adopt a patient approach and wait until the Eagles make their move.