Guess there are cap issues with using a franchise tag. Lefko doesn't bring that up in the My Northwest article
Believe you can manipulate the cap better with a contract rather than a tag. I don't see big issues with signing him to like a three year contract. I could see needing him for at least the first two, trade him in the third season. And that give you a lot more flexibility with your roster.. the use of the franchise tag comes with a significant downside, and that is the amount of cap space it takes up. Specifically, the franchise tag predicted to be in the neighborhood of $31.5M for 2023 by OverTheCap.com, and that is cap space that is taken up as soon as the tag is applied
Isn't a franchise tag more about an inability to sign a guy to a contract, negotiations aren't getting anywhere so you franchise him, which could happen with Geno.
A second franchise tag would be like $38 mil