One of the more controversial periods of the NFL calendar wraps up today, as the franchise tag deadline arrives.

The franchise tag is a one-year deal that holds a player to his current team, preventing the player from becoming a free agent. Each NFL team only gets one tag a year, and not every team uses it each year.

One team that made news early on this issue was the Pittsburgh Steelers, who decided to not use the franchise tag on running back Le’veon Bell.

By doing this Bell becomes a free agent and is expected to not return to Pittsburgh for the upcoming season.

This would have been the third consecutive year that Bell would have been tagged. He wants more money, and he thinks he should be the highest-paid running back in the league.

After the 2017 season, the Steelers informed Bell that they would tag him a second time. He did not like that, so he sat out for the entire 2018 season.

Bell is now a free agent and will expect teams to pay a lot of for him. The New York Jets are the frontrunners to land Bell.  

The Philadelphia Eagles, meanwhile, made some interesting moves a few days ago by not using the tag on quarterback Nick Foles.

Foles is a hero in Philadelphia for winning the Super Bowl in 2018 against the New England Patriots.

Since he was not tagged, Foles also will be a free agent. The Eagles will be relying fully on Carson Wentz as their quarterback for next season. The team that has the best chance to land Foles is the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Kansas City Chiefs were one of the first teams this season to use the franchise tag. Defensive end Dee Ford got tagged by the Chiefs on Saturday.

Teams can begin negotiations with free agents on Monday. It will be interesting to see where some of these players land.