The deadline for NFL teams to designate their franchise tag players is today at 1 PM Pacific. The San Francisco 49ers are not expected to use the franchise tag on any of their pending free agents, nor should they when you consider cost, age, and/or relative talent.

Since its introduction in 1993, the 49ers have used the franchise tag designation just six times on five different players. The tag, which teams can only use once a year, binds a player to that team for an additional year. It guarantees the player a one-year contract for an amount no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player's position or 120 percent of the player's previous salary. Whichever is greater.

The following are the 49ers players that are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on March 9.

WR Anquan Boldin
G Alex Boone
RB Reggie Bush
K Phil Dawson
NT Ian Williams

Below are this year's franchise tag numbers for each position, per ESPN.

Francise Tag Comparable Player Transition Tag Comparable Player
QB $19.953M Drew Brees ($20M) $17.696M Matthew Stafford ($17.7M)
RB $11.789M Jamaal Charles ($9.1M) $9.647M Arian Foster ($8.7M)
WR $14.599M Julio Jones ($14.3M) $12.368M Mike Wallace ($12.0M)
TE $9.118M Rob Gronkowski ($9.0M) $7.714M Charles Clay ($7.6M)
OL $13.706M Trent Williams ($13.2M) $11.902M Joe Thomas ($11.5M)
DE $15.701M J.J. Watt ($16.7M) $12.734M Charles Johnson ($12.7M)
DT $13.651M Gerald McCoy ($13.6M) $10.875M Geno Atkins ($10.7M)
LB $14.129M Clay Matthews ($13.2M) $11.925M Luke Kuechly ($12.4M)
CB $13.952M Richard Sherman ($14.0M) $11.913M Byron Maxwell ($10.5M)
S $10.806M Earl Thomas ($10.0M) $9.116M Jairus Byrd ($9.0M)
K/P $4.572M Stephen Gostkowski ($4.2M) $4.123M Britton Colquitt ($3.9M)

The following are the past players that the 49ers have used the franchise tag on, per Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area.

Steve Young (1993)
Terrell Owens (1999)
Julian Peterson (2004, 2005)
Aubrayo Franklin (2010)
Dashon Goldson (2012)