The Falcons won't use the franchise tag in 2016

You're used to hearing this from me, but I'll say it regardless: The Falcons aren't using the franchise tag in 2016.

The primary reason for that is that the Falcons do not have anyone on their list of free agents worth franchising. You could make an argument for Ryan Schraeder if he wasn't a restricted free agent, I suppose, but there's a lot of useful reserves, borderline starters, and young players who haven't come into their own just yet, and those aren't the kind of players you need to spend big to keep around for a year. Where this team has traditionally prized cap flexibility and not overspending (insert Tyson Jackson joke here), the franchise tag is an unlikely avenue, anyways. We won't know for sure until the March 1 deadline.

The Falcons have only used the franchise tag twice in the last decade. The most recent was in 2012, when they franchised Brent Grimes in an injury-marred year where he played just one game. The other was in 2009, when they used the (pretty affordable) franchise tag on punter Michael Koenen, who left for the Buccaneers after the 2010 season and was no Matt Bosher.

The good news is that the Falcons can sign their most prized outgoing free agents and still have plenty of cap space left to land a handful of legitimately useful players, assuming their scouting of said talent is up to snuff.