Source: Pro Football Talk

When franchise-tagged players sign long-term deals, the franchise tag then becomes available for the team to use on other players in the following year. And so, with the Ravens locking up running back Ray Rice on a long-term deal, they now have the tag available to use on quarterback Joe Flacco in 2013.

It's a fair point, and plenty of folks are now pointing it out. But having the tag available for Flacco and using it on Flacco are two different propositions.

Even though the Ravens can tag Flacco, doing so would require them to pay him the average of the five highest-paid players at the quarterback position, a number that likely will exceed $15 million in 2013. Apart from whether the Ravens think he's worth that much on a one-year contract, franchise-tag tango lays the foundation for negotiations on a long-term deal premised on what Flacco would earn under a second season of the tag (i.e., 20 percent more than what he makes in 2013) and the third season of the tag (i.e., 44 percent more than what he makes in 2014).

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