New York Jets Franchise Tag LB David Harris

New York Jets linebacker David Harris has gotten the franchise tag.

The fifth-year bruiser recorded 99 tackles and 3 sacks last year, and was voted team MVP by the rest of the Jets, according to NFL.com. The site also reports he made a base $500,000 in the last year of his rookie contract and is the final member of the Jets’ “Core Four,” a group of young position players Gang Green hopes to lock up long-term.

The other three players in that group – center Nick Mangold, tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, and corner Darrelle Revis – were signed to new contracts before the start of the 2011 season (Mangold’s and Revis’s signings were key plot points in HBO’s “Hard Knocks” documentary series, which followed the Jets during training camp). Harris has recored 422 tackles, 15 sacks, five forced fumbles and two interceptions since being drafted in the second round out of Michigan in 2007.

Ironically enough, depending on the results of the negotiations that threaten to derail the 2011 NFL season, the franchise tag as it exists today – teams can retain one would-be, unrestricted free-agent and not have it affect their salary cap – may not exist beyond this season, so Harris’s future could still be undecided if and when the dust settles.