Will Jordan Poyer be franchised by Bills?

The NFL offseason is upon us, and the Buffalo Bills have some free agency decisions to make. The first question revolves around whether or not the Bills will use the franchise tag on safety Jordan Poyer. The Buffalo defender is coming off his 10th NFL season while playing the last six with the Bills. Poyer earned All-Pro first team honors in 2021 and was selected to the Pro Bowl last year. However, there are a few obstacles in-between Poyer and the franchise tag this offseason. We’ll break them down below.

NFL teams were able to start tagging players starting on Tuesday, February 21st with a deadline of March 7th.

Will Jordan Poyer receive the franchise tag in 2023?

Poyer is an obvious candidate to receive the franchise tag in 2023. However, it’s not quite that straightforward. The Bills have another potential franchise tag recipient in linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. Remember, teams can use the franchise tag only once per offseason.

Edmunds was a first round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and he’s currently 24 years-old. That puts him in a better position to receive a long-term contract than Poyer, who will turn 32 this offseason. Because of that, it feels like Buffalo will offer the multi-year deal to Edmunds and then place the franchise tag on Poyer. However, if contract negotiations with Edmunds don’t go smoothly, then things could get a little more complicated.

The franchise tag for a safety requires a one-year salary of nearly $14.5 million, which is what Poyer stands to make in this scenario. If Edmunds is given the franchise tag, then he’ll receive the one-year linebacker salary of nearly $21 million. This will be a development to watch as we approach the March 7 deadline for tagging players.