The NFL’s deadline to use a 2023 franchise tag passed at 2:00 p.m. MT on Tuesday and the Denver Broncos opted to not place a tag on any of their players this offseason.
Denver’s only logical candidate for a tag was defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones. Had they tagged him, the Broncos would have committed to paying Jones $19.73 million on a one-year deal if an extension was not reached before July 15.
Instead, Denver hopes to reach a long-term agreement with the 26-year-old defensive lineman. Unrestricted free agents like Jones can begin negotiating with other teams on Monday, so the Broncos would need to re-sign him before then if they don’t want other teams to be able to make him offers.
Jones will want to test the free-agent market, though, to determine his market value before potentially re-signing with Denver. Broncos general manager George Paton has said the team wants to re-sign Jones, but Denver might not want to get into a bidding war if other teams drive his price too high.
If the Broncos lose Jones to another team during free agency, Denver would likely receive a third-round compensatory draft pick from the NFL in 2024, depending on how much they spend in free agency this spring.
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