There's an article over at NFL.com from Frank-Zappa-fan Jason LaCanfora about which players he expects to get franchised over the next two weeks, even if nobody is quite sure what the franchise tag will mean in the new CBA.
Most of the players on this list are guys that will be franchised as a way of making sure they don't talk to any other teams while working out a long-term deal with his current squad. Here's some of those guys:
Peyton Manning
LaMarr Woodley
Haloti Ngata
Tamba Hali
David Harris
Marcedes Lewis
Zach Miller
Aubrayo Franklin
Vincent Jackson and Logan Mankins will most-likely be brought back to the Chargers and Patriots, respectively, while those teams try and find guys to replace them in 2012 rather than sign them to long-term contracts.
I get the feeling Michael Vick and Sidney Rice are on the verge of being franchised because the Eagles and Vikings have not seen enough to give those guys the type of money and years they would require in a long-term deal. They both need to prove that they can stay healthy, and that they can maintain good habits (Vick) and survive without Brett Favre (Rice).