The Facts: Patriots placed their franchise tag on Gostkowski, a league source has told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Diehards Line:There was some speculation that safety Devin McCourty would get the team's franchise tag. But that's not the case. As Profootballtalk.com suggested earlier today, casual fans routinely scoff at the notion that a kicker is a “franchise player,” but kickers who get the franchise tag see a much lower one-year contract offer. For Gostkowski, ESPN.com's Mike Reiss estimates that the cash and cap number will be in the range of $4.5 million. By not tagging McCourty, the Patriots might have set the stage either to pay cornerback Darrelle Revis $20 million to keep him for 2015 (at a cap number of $25 million) or to give Revis a big-money extension. Whatever the case, Gostkowski gets the tag.