According to Jim McBride, the Patriots are using the franchise tag on G Joe Thuney.
While Thuney has been one of the better guards in the league, most didn’t expect New England to use the franchise tag on him given the nearly $16 million it would cost.
The expectation had been that Thuney would test the open market and could end up pricing himself out of New England. 20 teams were reportedly interested and Thuney had a great chance of resetting the market for guards.
Ian Rapoport mentions the possibility of New England tagging Thuney to explore a trade, which could net them more than the eventual third-round compensatory pick they could get if Thuney departed in free agency.
Thuney, 27, was drafted by the Patriots in the third round out of N.C. State in 2016. He signed a four-year, $3.538 million rookie deal and made a base salary of $720,000 for the 2019 season.
In 2019, Thuney started all 16 games for the Patriots. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 5 guard out of 80 qualifying players.
We have him included in our Top 100 – 2020 Free Agents list.
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
