The Chargers have gone ahead and done what we have expected them do for a while now, which is designate Vincent Jackson as a franchise player.

Jackson has been tagged with a "non-exclusive" franchise tag, which means him and his agent can go and negotiate with other teams that are not the Chargers if they wish. If they are given an offer by another team, the Chargers can choose to match the offer or not. If they do not, VJax's new team has to send two first round picks back to the Chargers as compensation.

So, knowing what we know about A.J. Smith and Vincent Jackson up to this point, it's probably safe to say that in 2011 Jackson will either have a high-priced one-year contract (somewhere in the range of $10-11 million) or will be playing on a team that gave up two first-round draft picks along with a big-money, long-term contract to get him.

The offseason has begun! Things are happening!