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The deadline for NFL teams to apply the franchise or transition tag to one of their pending free agents expired at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Nine players were tagged – all but one with the non-exclusive franchise version – a list that includes Jacksonville Jaguars OLB Josh Allen, Carolina Panthers OLB Brian Burns, New England Patriots DB Kyle Dugger (transition tag), Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee Higgins, Chicago Bears CB Jaylon Johnson, Baltimore Ravens DT Justin Madubuike, Indianapolis Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr., Kansas City Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed and Tampa Bay Buccaneers FS Antoine Winfield Jr.
They all have until July 15 to reach long-term extensions with their current clubs – any could be traded in the interim or untagged and released into the free agent market – or otherwise would have to play the 2024 season on a tag’s guaranteed one-year tender, which is valuated based on the player’s position.
Yet the ramifications of the tags can go well beyond the guys bearing them, especially with the free agency negotiating window set to open Monday. Here’s a look at the winners and losers of Tuesday’s tag deadline:
WINNERS
Baker Mayfield
Good as he was for the NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year, he wasn’t going to get a $38.3 million franchise tag – the going rate for quarterbacks in 2024. But the Bucs handled their rather extensive business otherwise, tagging Winfield after reaching a two-year extension with WR Mike Evans on Monday. With the core of the team remaining intact, Tampa Bay looks fairly well positioned to pursue a fourth consecutive division title next season … assuming GM Jason Licht can come to an accord with Mayfield, preferably before he’s able to peddle his services on the open market again.
Ja’Marr Chase
The Bengals’ No. 1 wideout has been a Pro Bowler each of his first three seasons and is now eligible for a long-term extension for the first time. Receivers don’t generally get their first huge payday after Year 3 (see: Justin Jefferson), yet Chase is in a good spot. Maybe he gets paid in the coming weeks or months. If not, he goes into the 2024 campaign knowing QB Joe Burrow will return healthy, while Higgins will also be back – meaning teams likely can’t afford to constantly roll coverage at Chase without paying dearly. Another big year would mean even bigger money in 2025 amid an ever-expanding salary cap.
Wide receivers
Higgins is the No. 2 option in Cincy’s offense. Pittman is coming off his best season (career-best 109 catches for 1,152 yards) but has generally been a reliable chain mover, if not a guy considered among the position’s elite performers. But both are now just outside the top 10 of the wideouts’ compensation rankings, each set to earn at least the $21.8 million the tag will afford them in 2024 – a nice show of faith from Cincinnati and Indianapolis given the receiver depth in this year’s draft. Only the quarterback tag is more lucrative among offensive players.
Outside linebackers
For Allen and Burns, matters are even greener. Both pass rushers will rake in at least $24 million next season after being franchised. Only the quarterback tag is more lucrative among all players.
Tua Tagovailoa
The Miami Dolphins did not tag trusty DT Christian Wilkins – obviously there’s still time to re-sign him, unlikely as that now seems before next Monday – as the club continues to seemingly clear the decks for what should be a huge windfall for Tagovailoa, the quarterback fresh off his first Pro Bowl effort after leading the NFL with 4,624 passing yards in 2023. The Fins still have more cap cutting to do despite parting ways with CB Xavien Howard, LB Jerome Baker and DE Emmanuel Ogbah. All signs point toward Tua overtaking Burrow ($55 million annually) as the league’s top-paid passer in terms of average seasonal salary.
TBD
Kansas City Chiefs
They control Sneed’s fate for now, though have empowered the ascending cover man to seek a trade. All-Pro DT Chris Jones seems committed to remaining in K.C. with the league’s newest dynasty … but 31 other teams could soon have the opportunity to float a massive enough bag to change his mind.
Houston Texans
They struck a three-year pact to retain TE Dalton Schultz on Tuesday but didn’t use the opportunity to tag popular DE Jonathan Greenard, who had a career- and team-high 12½ sacks for the AFC South champs in 2023. He now likely gets exposed to numerous suitors.
LOSERS
Tua Tagovailoa
A Dolphins team that hasn’t been able to win in the playoffs with (or without) him the past two seasons is now bleeding defensive mainstays – and perhaps more – in order to mint Tagovailoa as he comes out of his rookie contract. Almost certainly not going to get any easier for Miami to snap the 23-year drought since its last postseason win, currently the league’s longest such streak.
Kyle Dugger
Notably, the Patriots list him as a “DB” on their official roster – and why not, given Dugger played more than 200 snaps at corner, either wide or in the slot, last season? But not only did he get the less profitable transition tag Tuesday, he was classified as a safety (where he did line up for more than 800 snaps in 2023). Dugger’s tag is worth $13.8 million, $3.3 million fewer than a safety’s franchise tag. And had the Pats sweetened a franchise tag – something that’s been done in the past if a player mans multiple positions – he’d probably be due something closer to $18 million. Per Over The Cap, the Pats have nearly $90 million in cap space, most in the AFC.
Running backs
Their positional tag increased to $11.95 million in 2024, nearly a $2 million bump from last year – yet still the lowest among any group save specialists. But not a single back was tagged ahead of what should be a robust buyer’s market. Seven runners who had more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage in 2023 are set to go free: the New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley, Las Vegas Raiders’ Josh Jacobs, Dallas Cowboys’ Tony Pollard – all three were franchised in 2023, Barkley and Jacobs embittered by the process – the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry, Philadelphia Eagles’ D’Andre Swift, Houston Texans’ Devin Singletary and Los Angeles Chargers’ Austin Ekeler. Another, the Ravens’ Gus Edwards, had 990 yards. The Colts’ Zack Moss had 986 in 14 games. Now they forge ahead into a market that could be even unkinder than the tag game given teams’ general unwillingness to pay proven backs when they can simply burn through the capable ones readily available in the draft or opt for cut-rate contractual investments with less-talented vets.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.
2024-03-05 22:37:53
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