"Thursday begins a two-week period in which NFL teams can place the franchise tag on a player, essentially assuring that player won't become a free agent and will be part of their team in 2011.

Maybe.

The NFL Players Association says teams have no right to a franchise tag since the current Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire March 3. The NFL says the franchise tag is included in the CBA under which the league is operating.

The Chargers, officially, have not made up their mind regarding whether to place the tag on wide receiver Vincent Jackson. The team's personnel people have been meeting this week to decide the makeup of the team in 2011.

However, it has been known for two months that General Manager A.J. Smith has been leaning toward keeping Jackson another year.

Jackson, according to someone familiar with the player's thinking, expects the tag and plans to play for the more than $10 million it would guarantee him.

That is, if the franchise tag is part of a new CBA.

"If there is no CBA (come March 3), the franchise tags will be meaningless," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said last week.

It might all be semantics since most people expect the franchise tag to continue in the new CBA.

Teams are allowed to designate one player scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent with the franchise tag. That guarantees the player the average salary of the top five players at his position but prevents him from hitting the more lucrative free agent market."