4min chapter

Money Matters with Jack Mallers cover image

EP. 2: SAQUON BARKLEY

Money Matters with Jack Mallers

CHAPTER

The Role of the Tag in the NFL

The tag is, you get to a certain point. It prevents the player from hitting the overmarket from him for agency. Most of the time, it drops up your number and drops up your APY. And then sometimes it's used as a placeholder,. But it really kind of takes a lot of leverage away, a lot of power from players.

00:00
Speaker 1
You're running back
Speaker 2
and there's some rule that takes the average over some. It seems kind of arbitrary. And I think we should talk about who makes these rules and stuff. But there's a rule that then they get to tag you almost like a physical game of tag, which then freezes you, right? Or like, how does it work? And what's the deadline on Monday? So the tag is, you get to
Speaker 1
a certain point. I forgot the exact date, but you got to 4 p.m. to get it, you know, that they can tag you guys and kind of came between me and other team, me and me. And my team, I was able to get his deal done. I'm happy for him. And at 3.55, I got the text and I was tagged by 3.57 and I missed it by three minutes. And it prevents the player from hitting the overmarket from him for agency. And when you hit the free agency, you can negotiate with multiple teams. And that really helps you because now you have other teams going against each other. And you get to pick where you want to go. And most of the time, it drops up your number. It drops up your APY. It drops up the guarantee money that you want. So you get tagged. And then sometimes it's used as a placeholder, as you would think. But it really kind of takes a lot of leverage away, a lot of power from the players. I can't say that for every position because the tag isn't just not only for a running back, it's a tag for every position in the NFL. Some tags are hiding others. For the running back, it's 10. For a quarterback, I think it's like 35 or something like that. And then you get to a certain day, which is July 17th, to a certain time to figure out a deal. And if you cannot get a deal, a long-term deal, then you still can work on a one-year deal extension.
Speaker 3
But most of the times you don't come in. So you got the tag, 3.57, three minutes before the deadline. When you got that call or when you hopped on the phone with anyone, was it described to you as a
Speaker 1
placeholder? Yeah. I want to say in that moment, right then and there it was. I remember I got the phone call. I said, the short conversation, they called me and before they made the same thing, I said, I know. And it kind of just hung up. And that's what it really was. But yeah, the placeholder kind of wasn't the thing I just made up. It's kind of how it's used, to be honest. But at the same time, it's the business side. It forces you to, you got to know your value, you know your words. But at the same time, you got to be matured about it. You got to understand it's business. You can't take it personal. It can't be like, oh, this person doesn't like me or this and that and that and that. You can't really look at it that way. And I knew, I knew once you get tired, the leverage, my leverage is gone. And it kind of sucks in our business because it's a tough sport. You put a lot of physical demand on your body, on your mental. I think that's even more important. You hear stories about people in a league or especially after league, like, you know, the stuff that they deal with, the stuff that they battle with. And you kind of get fault for not being able to hit the open market and not be able to hit free agency. And for me, it was kind of, I guess you could say where, I want to say, I'm not happy. For me, it's kind of like where, what's the word I'm looking for? Where I'm kind of like thrown off or kind of, you know, it just doesn't sit right with me. It's like, I've came out publicly and said that I want to be a giant for life. I don't want to hit the free agency market. Obviously, I feel like it could have been done. It could have got the job done. Obviously, you know, they have their version of it. I have my version of it. But that's probably where it's like to me, where it's a little, it don't sit right with me because I'm like, I've came out, like, I don't, I want to be here. Like, I will, nothing more. I will love to bring a Super Bowl, bring a championship to the place I was born. Like, I was a Jets fan growing up, but I would drive by MetLife Stadium. It wasn't this stadium now. They had an older one, but I would drive by that stadium when I would go from Pennsylvania to New York to visit my family. And like, if I was asleep or whatever, my dad would always make sure I see that stadium. And like, in my mind's a kid, like, I'm playing that stadium one day, like, you know, kind of like manifests all that in his hair. So I don't, I live in New Jersey. I got a beautiful home. My family loves it. I'm close to my family. For me, it's like, I don't want to go anywhere else. And like, I just want to get to football. I just want to suss because like, it's the business side of it. But like, I just love football
Speaker 2
and I just want to play the game.

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode