The franchise tag is BULLSHIT, it almost exclusively benefits the team. While a player may make more money in the short term playing on a franchise tag, he puts an entire year’s worth of wear and tear on his body and hits free agency a year later than he is technically slated to, typically hindering his earning potential for his next contract. More mileage on his body when he hits FA = less long-term impact a guy can have on his next team, so thinks most GMs/owners.(Sure, there’s exceptions like Kirk Cousins)

That franchise tags exist at all and aren’t vulnerable to something like, say, arbitration is ENTIRELY a failure of the NFLPA. The player’s association failed Le’Veon Bell, like it failed Earl Thomas and failed Aaron Donald for a period of time as well. Every one of these guys was in a “show up or else” position as a result of this wildly one-sided apparatus. Both things can be true: Leveon Bell can think he deserves more money, and Le’Veon Bell can also be committing an egregious error by passing up 14 million dollars guaranteed when there’s ample reason to believe he’ll never see a payday like that again.

The NBA players have their shit together because they realized long ago that they hold all the power, and they will actually stand their ground when threatened. But there’s too many football players, they’re not as smart as basketball players, and there’s disproportionate perceived values from position-to-position (Ben Roethlisberger is, what, 20x more important than Le’Veon?)

Get rid of the franchise tag
Tier positions and place pay minimums not only by longevity but by position as well
And stand your ground until ownership caves or counters with an offer that pays as well as players deserve to be paid