It sure was a fun ride with Von Miller, John Elway and the Denver Broncos the past month and a half.The NFLs franchise-tag rule, which allows teams to keep their top players off the market while negotiating long-term deals with them, made for some particularly interesting theater in Millers case. There were weird deadlines set by the team more than a month ahead of the real one. There was an Instagram post in which? Miller cut Elway out of the picture to express his displeasure with what he would later refer to as some of the tactics Elway was using in negotiations.In the end, it all worked out, as it always seemed it would. Miller and the Broncos signed a six-year, $114.5 million contract extension?Friday, just a couple of hours before the deadline, and now everyone is happy. The franchise tag gave us all something to talk and write about during the slow summer months of NFL coverage, and for that we are grateful.But we got to wondering what this all would have been like if there were no such thing as the franchise player designation. What if that rule simply didnt exist? How would that have affected Miller, or any of the other players who were tagged this offseason? How would it have affected the market in general?Before we get too far into this, understand that the franchise tag isnt going anywhere. It has been around since 1993, first installed as an ostensible means of allowing smaller-market teams to keep their stars out of free agency and out of the hands of bigger-market ones. Over time, it has evolved and been used in many different ways, not always consistent with its original intent. But while top players and agents find it odious, as it restricts earnings at the top of the market, 99 percent of NFL players will never have to worry about being tagged, which means its not an issue the NFLPA is interested in fighting in future negotiations. Players can all agree they dont like it, but theyre not about to draw any lines in the negotiating sand over it.So?imagine for a moment that there was no such thing as the franchise tag. Here are a few different ways Millers past year or two could have unfolded:1. Miller signs an extension during the 2015 offseason.Knowing 2015 was the final year of Millers contract and they had no way of keeping him off the market come March, the Broncos could have moved to extend him last summer, as the Panthers did with Luke Kuechly, or the Giants did with Eli Manning. At that time, Miller probably would have been looking at a deal a little bit north of the six-year, $101 million contract Justin Houston signed last summer with the Chiefs. (Of course, in this alternate reality, Houston would have signed his contract much sooner and likely for more money, since Kansas City couldnt have franchised him in the spring of 2015. But just roll with us here.)Ndamukong Suh had just blown out the market for defensive players with a six-year, $114.375 million deal from Miami. Since Suh got his deal as an open-market unrestricted free agent, Miller (who had a year to go on his deal) couldnt have expected to get that much. So hed probably have just beaten the Houston deal and come in around $17 million a year instead of the $19.083 million he got. Look at it that way, and the franchise tag may have helped him. The year he played in the interim saw him add Super Bowl MVP to his resume. That pays big, as did the 8.4 percent increase in the salary cap.2. Miller signs an extension after the Super Bowl but before hitting the open market.Not knowing Olivier Vernon was going to get $17 million a year from the Giants once he hit the market, Miller probably would still have been negotiating off the Houston deal, though with a little more help. Suhs down year and the cap increase (which in February was still only a projected cap increase), along with Millers brilliance in leading the Broncos to a championship, put Miller in a position to argue to be in the same neighborhood as Suh. Add 8.4 percent to Suhs average annual salary and you get $20.5875 million. Millers agent likely would have started by asking for that, knowing he wouldnt get it. Thats a lower starting point than Millers agent actually used in real life. He was asking for $22 million per year when negotiations began this summer.3. Miller waits it out, hits the open market and cashes in big.What happens if Miller hits the free-agent market in March coming off the year he just had? You saw how crazy teams went when the Dolphins took the transition tag off Vernon. Miller would have been even more coveted, and likely soared well into the $22 million range. The case for paying him quarterback money after what he did last year and in the postseason couldnt have been clearer, and free agency is a time when teams dont even need a great reason to open their wallets. This would have been the best possible situation for Miller, who would have left Suhs deal in the dust and probably set the bar for the Andrew Luck deal that came a few months later in Indianapolis. Its possible, too, that Miller being on the market would have helped others. Maybe Vernon would have done even better, riding Millers coattails to a deal with one of the teams that didnt win the Miller sweepstakes. Maybe hed have priced Muhammad Wilkerson out of the Jets budget, since Wilkerson wouldnt have been subject to the nonexistent franchise tag either.Of these possibilities, the first is the most likely, since few players like to assume the injury risk that comes with playing out the final year of their contract without an extension. Theres no way to know whether the Broncos would have approached Miller about an extension last summer if the franchise tag didnt exist. But if they did, history says they likely could have reached a deal. And it probably would have been a smaller one than the one he ended up getting.As for the other guys who got franchised this year:Kirk Cousins, Washington: Coming off a surprise season, Cousins likely would have fallen into the same free-agent category as Denvers Brock Osweiler?-- a quarterback who has shown promise but still isnt a known quantity. Since Houston seemed to be the only team willing to pay Osweiler $18 million a year, its likely the only way Cousins could have made that much is if Houston had preferred him to Osweiler. Its possible Cousins would have had to take a shorter-term deal in the $16 million-a-year range with Washington. Instead, he makes $19.9 million for one year and has to prove he can do it again.Alshon Jeffery, Chicago:?After missing seven games due to injury in 2015, Jefferys best hope may have been a deal like the ones Doug Baldwin and Keenan Allen just signed in Seattle and San Diego. And even that $11.5 million-a-year range may have been tough to convince someone to cough up for a guy who wasnt healthy all season. Instead, he makes $14.599 million for one year.Eric Berry, Kansas City:?Maybe emotion would have carried the day back in March, and Kansas City would have locked up Berry the way the Patriots did Devin McCourty ($9.5 million a year) one year before. But if Berry was looking to be the highest-paid safety in the league, he probably could have scored a $10-plus-million-a-year deal on the open market. Kansas City froze him at $10.806 million for one year, and knowing his tag next year will be almost $13 million set his expectations higher than made the Chiefs comfortable.Muhammad Wilkerson, New York Jets:?Everything written about Miller applies here, as Wilkerson was the only other franchise player whose franchise tag number was lower than his market value. He wouldnt have broken any records, but Wilkerson would have done well on the open market, likely securing greater guarantees than the Jets gave him in the extension done Friday.Trumaine Johnson, Los Angeles:?Former teammate Janoris Jenkins got $12.5 million a year from the Giants, so its fair to assume Johnson could have got the same from some other team. Corners are in demand.Justin Tucker, Baltimore:?Probably gets the same exact deal he just got, only sooner. 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Yeezy 350 v2 Citrin Pas Cher . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Yeezreel Pas Cher . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans.Chelsea Ladies boss Emma Hayes believes women’s football must grow in this country before there can be a debate about equal pay in the game. The equal pay debate has been brought sharply into focus by the complaint filed by five senior members of the US Womens National Team against their federation for wage discrimination. The US Womens National Team attracted Americas highest football audience in history last year Despite four Olympic titles and three World Cup wins, including last years showpiece which was watched by 23 million people in America - the highest television audience for a football match in US history - the women earn less than half than their male counterparts. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday that the matter is far from straightforward and called for the debate to be taken very seriously. Gianni Infantino wants FIFA to look into how much female footballers get paid. But Hayes - who guided Chelsea Ladies to the league and FA Cup double last season - says commercialisation of the womens game is key before we can have the similar conversations in this country.Its about taking one step at a time, she told Sky Sports News HQ. Chelsea Ladies Special One with the Womens FA Cup trophy at Wembley I think its a convversation that needs to be linked side-by-side with commercialising the womens game and if that happens, and there is growth and there are more revenue streams, Im sure there will be more pay for women in all sports.ddddddddddddThere has been huge progress post the 2012 Olympic Games. The lasting legacy of that is womens sport and I think we will continue to see more investment but it is step-by step.The important part is womens sport is here to stay and at a club like Chelsea that is very much the case. World Player of the Year Carli Lloyd is one of five US players who have file a wage discrimination complaint We have 22 full-time players here who are thriving and able to represent the club because of the opportunities that have been afforded to us and we are very grateful for that.Last week, Australias female cricketers were handed a pay rise by their board, with seven of those confirmed to take part in this summers inaugural Kia Super League in England. Australia won the Womens Ashes in England last summer New Zealand captain Suzie Bates will also play in the competition this summer but says the womens game must be better promoted in her homeland before female players can seek parity with their male counterparts.I guess we cant really demand too much until weve proven to be a success, she said. Suzie Bates says the womens game must develop before equal pay becomes a reality But I think once the womens game on its own starts attracting crowds and TV numbers then I think we will be able to demand more of that revenue.The more its on TV, and the more its promoted in the media, the more opportunities there are for that.I can see the argument but in New Zealand at the moment we havent done the work to promote the game to increase its profile, but in Australia and in England they have done that really well and they are getting people watching. Also See: SportsWomen Latest Show News Latest News SportsWomen Video ' ' '