The deadline for NFL groups to make use of the franchise tag was 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. That deadline handed with solely two gamers (Kansas Metropolis Chiefs guard Trey Smith and Cincinnati Bengals extensive receiver Tee Higgins) having the tag positioned on them.
Let’s check out among the winners and losers from these choices (and non-decisions) across the league.
Winners
Unrestricted free brokers
Solely two gamers getting the tag is a big win for nearly all the NFL’s free company class, as a result of it opens the door for nearly all of them to hit the open market and promote their skills and providers to the very best bidders.
It’s a staggeringly low quantity, contemplating there have been eight gamers tagged a 12 months in the past and the NFL had routinely averaged round 9 tagged gamers per offseason. That is the first time since 1994 only two or fewer players were tagged.
If you’d like an thrilling free agent signing interval, that is excellent news for you.
J.J. McCarthy, QB, Minnesota Vikings
McCarthy is just not a free agent, however he’s in some methods an enormous winner right here by way of what Tuesday would possibly imply for his profession. The Vikings elected to not use the franchise tag on veteran quarterback Sam Darnold, setting the stage for him to hit the open market subsequent week.
That ought to open the door for McCarthy, the Vikings’ first-round decide within the 2024 NFL Draft, to take his place because the staff’s beginning quarterback.
That was speculated to be the plan for the 2024 season till McCarthy suffered a season-ending damage in coaching camp. Darnold ended up taking on and put collectively a profession 12 months whereas enjoying on a loaded Minnesota offense.
Now McCarthy may have the chance to play with these playmakers.
Osa Odighizuwa, DT, Dallas Cowboys
With Odighizuwa set to develop into a free agent this offseason, there was a perception the Cowboys would possibly elect to make use of the franchise tag to maintain him from hitting the open market.
As a substitute, they only signed him to a long-term deal.
Odighizuwa signed a four-year, $80M contract that features $58M in ensures and a $20M signing bonus. The 26-year-old defensive lineman has develop into a staple in the midst of their protection, and is the newest homegrown participant to get a significant deal from the Cowboys.
It’s a good contract for a third-round decide from the 2021 NFL Draft, and he avoids the frustration of getting to cope with the franchise tag.
Losers
Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Higgins will get the franchise tag for the second 12 months in a row, and whereas that would end in a $26.2M wage if he indicators that tender it’s clearly not what he needed.
Higgins would have probably been the highest free agent in the marketplace had he not been tagged and will have picked no matter staff he needed and been coming into free company with a clean examine.
Now he has to cope with the chaos that’s one other sequence of contract negotiations with the Bengals and the potential for going one other 12 months into his profession with out getting a big-money deal.
Sam Darnold
Some would possibly name Darnold a winner for not getting the tag and with the ability to take a look at the open market, however is he? Is he going to get a contract that pays him greater than the $40M he would have acquired this season on the tag? Given his profession thus far, that’s unlikely.
Even worse, is he going to discover a scenario pretty much as good because the one he had in Minnesota by way of the expertise round him? Additionally unlikely. Minnesota was the proper spot for him.
Philadelphia Eagles protection
The Eagles have been unlikely to make use of the tag, and so they nonetheless have an ideal yount protection, however Milton Williams, Josh Sweat and Zack Baun are all set to develop into unrestricted brokers and, maybe, discover greener pastures financially.
