The Indianapolis Colts have decided to put their franchise tag on punter Pat McAfee, for now. McAfee’s contract is up, and on Friday, the Colts decided to put a hold on their punter, prior to any other team trying to sign him away in free agency later this month. Still, there could possibly be a long-term deal with McAfee and the Colts in the works, which would free back up the franchise tag for another player.
The clock was ticking for the Colts to franchise one of their players. Each team in the NFL has until March 4th to place their franchise tag. If the Colts can indeed get a deal done with McAfee in the next few days, then it would save the issue of teams shopping around for him, as well as lock up one of the league’s best punters for another few years.
Putting the franchise title on a punter is basically unheard of, but losing McAfee would be more costly for the Colts than some might think. Last season, McAfee put up record-breaking numbers for his franchise. MaCafee had a franchise-best punt yardage average, at over 48 yards per punt. In 2012, he put up 45 kickoffs that resulted in touchbacks, which is also a record for the Colts.