For the second straight year, the Bengals likely will not use the franchise tag, meaning Cedric Benson and Johnathan Joseph will be unrestricted free agents. The deadline for teams to declare which players they want to tag is Thursday. The NFL has not released the official numbers for what franchise tags would be, but it is expected that running backs would be $9-$9.5 million and cornerbacks $14-$15 million. The franchise tag is determined by the average of the top five salaries in that position group. Source: The Enquirer
