It appears that the Tennessee Titans and Derrick Henry aren’t making much progress on a contract extension.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, contract talks between the two sides “haven’t really gotten off the ground too much…”
From our Free Agency Frenzy coverage: The #Titans locked up QB Ryan Tannehilll long-term, validating one of the best trades of last offseason and one of the best moves of this past season. pic.twitter.com/rixwo2TOMy
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 15, 2020
Rapoport also notes that with Tannehill locked up to the four-year deal worth $118 million that the Titans signed him to, the franchise tag is “very much an option” for Henry.
The deadline to place the franchise tag on a player hits on Monday at 10:59 a.m. CT, so if no long-term deal is reached by then the Titans have to tag their running back in order to avoid him hitting the open market.
Even if that happens, all hope is not lost for Henry and the Titans coming to an agreement. Tennessee will have until July 15 to reach a multi-year deal with the Alabama product.
In the meantime, he won’t be able to negotiate with other teams should the Titans use the exclusive franchise tag, which makes the most sense in this instance.
Should Henry play out the entire 2020 season on the franchise tag, he’d stand to make about $10.2 million, as projected by former agent and CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry.
Tennessee wouldn’t mind paying that, but chances are the team would rather get a deal done in order to avoid the messy situation that a franchise tag can create.