You can add A.J. Green to the list of players hit with the franchise tag this week as NFL free agency is about to kick into high gear in the coming hours.

It would not have been a total shock to see the Bengals let the 31-year-old receiver test the open market considering Green has not managed to play in more than 10 games in three of his previous four NFL seasons and is coming off a year he didn’t appear on the field at all for the team due to injury.

However, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the Bengals have decided to franchise tag Green. It’s not clear at this time if Green has been given an “exclusive” franchise tag or not. An exclusive franchise tag would make it illegal for another team to negotiate a deal with Green.

This move makes sense when you consider many have questioned whether Joe Burrow wants to play for the Bengals and if the likely first pick of the 2020 NFL Draft should force his way out of Cincinnati. How would it look if the team let a veteran receiver capable of being Burrow’s No. 1 option in 2020 walk out the door via free agency?

It certainly would back up the claims that Cincinnati isn’t committed to winning.

During his NFL career, which has been spent entirely with the Bengals franchise, Green has caught 602 passes for 8,907 yards and 63 touchdowns.