In house F/A's

There is going to be issues whether you go more restrictive like the NBA or less restrictive like MLB. Both scenarios lead to the creation of "super" teams. And even in your scenario it still hurts parity.

If you allow teams to basically spend what they want on FAs teams like Dallas are going to outbid the smaller market teams.

If you cap contracts then players will tend to flock to what they see as powerhouse teams, money being equal or close to it.

If you give teams unlimited uses of the cap % discount on their own FAs it would heavily favor teams with better luck and scouting (50% of the draft is luck) and limit player movement and the excitement of FA and the idea that bad teams can get better in a year.

I think at most you make a one player use where he only counts for a max of say 15% of the cap no matter what his actual cap cost would be. Still expensive on the cap and it would have to be reapplied each year (same player or someone else).

There would still be issues with that but it could be a starting point given QB contracts nowadays.

there has been some talk of proposals that address the cap in some way.

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it could be a starting point given QB contracts nowadays

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THIS is the key point now. The Franchise Tag has nothing to do with a player being anything special to the team. It is simply a cap management tool. Addressing these would be about the only real possibility to me.

One idea: A Real Franchise Tag. Basically, the same concept thug had with 15% except scaled. Like this:
-1 player can be selected
-the first year tagged, the team cap is given a 5% bonus. (would = $6.5mil now)
-each consecutive additional year tagging that player would add 1% more to a maximum total of 15-20% ($19.5mil to 26mil in todays cap).

This would have nothing to do with the players contract directly. It would make it easier and more attractive for teams to keep their true franchise player around. Someone like Indy could tag Andrew Luck now. After 10 seasons they would be getting a 10% cap bonus for him.

To enhance it as a method of keeping players you could even add one more- that when choosing not to continue tagging the same player, that team would have one year in which they could not have the tag bonus- unless that player filed their retirement papers.

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