NFL franchise tag hurts players. Here's what's worse.

In place since the NFL first implemented full-fledged free agency in 1993, the franchise tag draws scorn for limiting players’ freedom. While this is appropriate, that team-friendly tool only affects a handful of players each year. It might not be a worthwhile fight for the NFL Players Association to eliminate it when the next collective bargaining agreement talks heat up.

A weapon that emerged when the 2011 CBA was finalized, however, should be a talking point. Over the past eight years, the fifth-year option has given teams another way to slow top players’ earning potential. It impacts more standout talents than the franchise tag and has resulted in a strange 2010s trend. An imbalance exists as to who gets paid when.

The fifth-year option only resides in first-round picks’ contracts. No strings are attached to the other draftees' four-year deals. Teams must exercise these options by the May before first-rounders’ fourth seasons. They provide varying spikes in first-rounders’ fifth-season salaries but often come in below-market value and do not offer players much security. Since fifth-year options are guaranteed for injury only, teams can cut bait free of charge in the March before season five.

Unless teams do not pick up a player's option, non-first-round picks can hit free agency a year earlier and do so with another prime year of service to factor into negotiations. The option has made countless Pro Bowl-caliber talents wait a year to either enter into extension talks with their own teams or hit the open market. For every early extension like Carson Wentz's, there are several Von Miller-, Khalil Mack- and Jadeveon Clowney-type delays. A first-rounder playing in the fourth year of a rookie contract can face significant risk.

First-round picks under the previous CBA were overpaid, so their lengthier contracts were not as constraining. Sam Bradford’s 2010 rookie pact was worth $86 million over six years. After the current CBA went into effect, 2011 No. 1 pick Cam Newton signed a four-year, $22 million deal. The owners corrected an issue that was hurting their books, but the ancillary effect of mid-round starters possessing quicker avenues to financial security than first-round All-Pros made it an overcorrection.

Under the current CBA, draft picks are eligible to sign an extension after three seasons. But with teams generally hesitant to negotiate with someone who has two years of control left, this mostly benefits players drafted outside the first round. Each year, there are examples of second-tier talents securing generational wealth while superstars wait.

Because the Raiders drafted Derek Carr (Round 2) and Gabe Jackson (Round 3) after the first round in 2014, their quarterback and right guard received lucrative second contracts in 2017. Mack played the '17 season on his rookie deal before needing a trade to land his long-sought extension. Defensive ends Frank Clark and Trey Flowers -- second- and fourth-round choices in 2015, respectively -- have combined for zero Pro Bowls. Yet Flowers signed a five-year, $90 million deal with the Lions in March, and Clark inked a five-year, $104 million contract with the Chiefs in April. Za'Darius Smith, a 2015 fourth-rounder-turned-part-time starter, signed for $16.5 million per year with the Packers. Clowney, the 2014 No. 1 overall pick (and extension-eligible for 2 1/2 years), has become one of this system's biggest glitches.

The Texans used the same double-stall tactic the Broncos did with Miller: a fifth-year option season followed by a franchise tag. The Broncos extended Miller before his sixth season. But with the Texans in front-office limbo after surprisingly firing their general manager,  Clowney, 26, remains on the verge of a sixth year without a long-term deal. Clowney, a three-time Pro Bowler, was so talented as a South Carolina sophomore that he  would have been the No. 1 pick in 2013 (when the Chiefs took Eric Fisher) if allowed draft entry. 

Jared Goff can comfortably play his fourth rookie-deal season knowing that, barring an Alex Smith-level injury, he will still be the Rams’ best quarterback option in 2020. But if Clowney (who has a notable injury history) or Dallas running Ezekiel Elliott, the fourth overall pick in 2016, suffer a season-defining injury, their respective values may well drop. Due to running backs' limited earning windows, the fifth-year option the Cowboys exercised has Elliott in a bind.

By far the worst moment associated with a fifth-year option is the night Ryan Shazier’s tragic injury sidetracked his life. The Steelers selected Shazier at No. 15 overall in 2014, making him eligible for a 2017 extension. But that year, no team extended a member of the talented 2014 first-round class. Mack, Aaron Donald and Odell Beckham Jr. saw their options picked up and played their fourth seasons before signing record-breaking re-ups in 2018. The spinal cord injury Shazier suffered in December 2017 deprived him of that chance.

Shazier's $8.78 million 2018 option allowed the Steelers to table negotiations, causing the linebacker to voice frustration about these options affording teams that luxury. Had Shazier been a second-round selection, the two-time Pro Bowler would have been in better position to ensure vital security via high-priced extension before the 2017 season. Steelers 2014 second-rounder Stephon Tuitt, entering the final season of his four-year contract, was prioritized over Shazier in the team's extension queue.

Shazier’s injury represents enough of a cautionary tale for the NFLPA to make removing the fifth-year option a priority in the next round of CBA talks. Seventeen teams exercised options in 2019. Twenty did so in 2018. Teams should not be allowed to use cheap assets for four years, keep them off the market with the option and, in cases like Clowney’s, be permitted a sixth-year franchise tag if an impasse still exists. A league without guaranteed contracts affords its franchises enough protection.

When the NFL and NFLPA conclude the negotiations for the agreement that will shape the league in the 2020s, the franchise tag will almost certainly be part of the next landscape. The union should work hard to make sure the fifth-year option will go down as a 2010s misstep.