Tag: franchise tag

What would it cost Colts to franchise tag Michael Pittman Jr?

Here is the cost of the non-exclusive franchise tags.

The Indianapolis Colts officially know what they are working with in terms of the salary cap, and they now also know what it would cost to franchise tag wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.

While both parties would like to avoid that scenario, it’s still a tool the Colts can use if they can’t agree on a contract extension before the franchise tag deadline of March 5.

If the Colts wanted to use the non-exclusive franchise tag on the talented wide receiver, it would cost them $21,816,000 for the 2024 season.

It was reported Friday night that the Cincinnati Bengals are planning to apply the tag to wide receiver Tee Higgins. They can still negotiate a long-term deal, but this keeps him from technically hitting the open market.

The Colts could take the same route if they don’t get a deal done before the March 5 deadline. Pittman has stated this offseason that he would be willing to accept the franchise tag if it led to a contract extension.

General manager Chris Ballard has never used the franchise tag since his arrival in 2017, and the Colts haven’t used it since 2013 when they applied the tender to punter Pat McAfee.

The increase in the salary cap to $255.4 million should help the Colts get a deal done considering they are among the leaders in salary-cap space.

However, the official numbers of the franchise tag at least give them something to lean on if a deal doesn’t get done.

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Cost for Patriots to franchise tag Kyle Dugger or Mike Onwenu revealed

If the Patriots wanted to franchise tag Kyle Dugger or Mike Onwenu, here’s how much it would cost

The franchise tag costs are set for the 2024 season, and they could prove important for the New England Patriots, if they decide to tag any of their pending free agents in the offseason.

But who would be the likeliest candidates in New England to receive the franchise tag?

The easy answer would be safety Kyle Dugger and offensive guard/tackle Mike Onwenu. Dugger stepped up as the leader in the defensive backfield after Devin McCourty retired, and Onwenu proved invaluable for the Patriots due to his ability to play at both the guard and tackle positions.

If the Patriots wanted to use the franchise tag on Onwenu, it would cost the team $20.9 million for the one-year placement holder. Meanwhile, keeping Dugger around on such a contract would cost the team $17.1 million.

Between the two players, Onwenu is the one the Patriots can’t afford to lose. The offensive line was a trouble spot for the team all season long, and the former sixth-round draft pick is their best offensive lineman.

Of course, they would much rather strike up a long-term deal than pay the hefty franchise tag fee. But with Trent Brown’s contract also expiring, the Patriots don’t want to find themselves in a position where they lose both tackles in free agency.

Fixing the offensive line is imperative if the Patriots are even considering using their No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL draft on a quarterback.

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Colts’ Michael Pittman Jr. ranked among top offensive free agents

CBS Sports ranked Michael Pittman Jr. among top offensive free agents.

It has been well documented that Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. is among the top offensive players set to hit the free-agent market during the 2024 offseason.

Add CBS Sports to the list of outlets ranking Pittman among the top players on the offensive side of the ball. In their latest rankings, the Colts’ top receiver came in at No. 4 overall among offensive players behind wide receivers Mike Evans and Tee Higgins and quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Here’s what CBS Sports had to say about Pittman:

Pittman is coming off the best season of his career, having racked up 109 catches for 1,152 yards and four scores last year despite going through a system change and multiple quarterback injuries. He has great size and is a threat to run after the catch with the ball in his hands. He may not quite be an alpha for your passing game, but he’s a really good fit as a high-level X receiver.

It’s unlikely Pittman will hit the market as an unrestricted free agent. If the two sides fail to agree on a contract extension, the Colts can use the non-exclusive franchise tag.

In doing so, Pittman can still test the market and gauge other teams’ interest in his services while giving the Colts a chance to match any offer he receives.

There is no denying Pittman’s importance to the offense. Simply look at the Week 16 game against the Atlanta Falcons. The offense was put on a horrendous show on the road.

The Colts have until March 5 to apply the franchise tag if they feel the need to so we’ve got roughly two weeks until a decision must be made.

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Broncos seem unlikely to use franchise tag in 2024

Facing a salary cap pinch, the Broncos seem unlikely to place a franchise tag on any players this offseason.

The window for NFL teams to use a one-year franchise tag opened on Tuesday and it will close on March 5.

The Denver Broncos have used a franchise tag eight times in the past, most recently on safety Justin Simmons in 2021. The team’s streak of not using a tag seems likely to extend to three years this spring.

The Broncos do not have an obvious candidate for the franchise tag in 2024. Denver’s most notable pending free agents are center Lloyd Cushenberry, linebacker Josey Jewell, safety P.J. Locke, kicker Wil Lutz and tight end Adam Trautman.

There’s no way the Broncos would pay the franchise tag rate for a linebacker ($22,748,000), safety ($16,224,000) or tight end ($12,027,000) in 2024 for Jewell, Locke or Trautman. It wouldn’t make sense to use the offensive line tag ($19,885,000) on Cushenberry, either.

Not even a kicker tag ($5,670,000) could be justified for Lutz, who had a cap hit of $1.7 million last season. Lutz’s cap hit ranked 21st out of 32 kickers last year. Tagging him in 2024 would place him among the five highest-paid kickers in the league (in terms of cap charges). With Denver facing a cap pinch, Lutz is unlikely to receive a huge pay raise.

The Broncos will have to make some tough decisions to get under the cap this spring and the team probably can’t afford to use a franchise tag.

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With franchise tag window now open, don’t expect Rams to use it

The franchise tag window is open until March 5, but the Rams are highly unlikely to use it on any free agents

As of Tuesday, Feb. 20, teams can begin using the franchise or transition tag. They’re allowed to tag one designated pending free agent to retain for a set amount in 2024, so long as the player obliges and signs the tender to play on a one-year contract.

Like just about every other team in the NFL, the Rams have used the franchise tag in the past, but they haven’t done so since 2018 when they tagged Lamarcus Joyner. It’s not that they’re against using the franchise tag. It’s just that they haven’t exactly had a pending free agent worth using the tag on, given the high one-year cost that comes with it.

Looking at the team’s group of pending free agents in 2024, no one should expect the Rams to use the tag this offseason. In all likelihood, it’ll be their sixth consecutive year without using the tag.

Their top free agent is guard Kevin Dotson, who they acquired in a trade with the Steelers last offseason. As badly as the Rams would like to re-sign Dotson and keep him in Los Angeles, they won’t be willing to pay him the $19.885 million that would come with tagging him. That’s simply too expensive for a guard, with only two guards in the NFL making more than that.

Ahkello Witherspoon, Jordan Fuller and John Johnson are among the Rams’ other pending free agents, too, but none of the three would be worth the high cost of the franchise tag. There’s no chance the Rams would tag any of them.

With no viable candidates for the tag, it’s almost certain that the Rams will pass on using it. They’ll either let their free agents hit the market or sign them to new contracts in order to keep them. The tag won’t be a realistic option for Los Angeles this offseason.

Every franchise tag recipient in Panthers history

With a new recipient likely on the way, let’s look back at the Panthers’ history with the franchise tag.

With no new deal seemingly in sight for two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Brian Burns, the Carolina Panthers are destined to use the franchise tag for the eighth time in their history.

But how did the first seven play out?

Let’s take a look at Carolina’s history with the tag.

All 10 times the Jaguars have used the franchise tag

The Jaguars appear set to use the franchise tag for a fifth straight offseason.

As of Tuesday, NFL teams are allowed to use the franchise tag or transition tag to retain one player due to become a free agent. And for the fifth straight year, the Jacksonville Jaguars are likely to make use of the tag.

The likeliest scenario is that pass rusher Josh Allen will get the tag after posting a career-best 17.5 sacks during the 2023 season. But even if the Jaguars manage to get a deal done with Allen ahead of the March 5 deadline (which seems unlikely), they’d probably instead use the tag to keep wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

The franchise tag is a tool that guarantees a player, at minimum, a one-year fully guaranteed deal that makes them one of the highest paid players at their position. Teams also have until mid-July to sign a multi-year extension with a tagged player.

While Jacksonville has used it in four straight offseasons, the team only used it six times in the more than two decades prior. Here’s the Jaguars’ entire history of using the franchise tag:

Franchise tag window opens for Colts, Michael Pittman Jr.

The franchise tag window opens Tuesday afternoon.

The Indianapolis Colts can officially apply the franchise tag tender to any pending free agent Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET.

While the Colts have several vital players set to hit the market, only one is a candidate to receive the franchise tag: wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.

The franchise tag isn’t necessarily a bad thing for either side. In this case, the Colts can use the franchise tag as a tool to extend the negotiating window for a new contract extension.

The Colts have until March 5 to apply the designation so it would be a mild surprise if the team applied the tag right away. The two sides have time to come to an agreement on a contract extension, but if they don’t before the deadline, then the franchise tag would make sense.

Which tag the Colts would hypothetically apply matters as well. If the Colts apply the exclusive franchise tag, Pittman can’t negotiate with other teams. However, if the Colts apply the non-exclusive franchise tag (the most likely option), Pittman could still gauge the market.

On the non-exclusive franchise tag, the Colts could match any offer Pittman receives from another team. They also have the choice to refuse it, which would net them two first-round picks.

Pittman has expressed his desire to test the market, but he also has stated he’s not against the franchise tag if it means it leads to a contract extension.

The non-exclusive franchise tag seems like a solid option for both sides. Pittman gets to test the market, and the Colts get an idea of what other teams would offer.

The Colts have not used the franchise tag since 2013 when they used it on punter Pat McAfee. During the Chris Ballard era, there hasn’t really been a viable tag candidate before Pittman.

Regardless, the window for the franchise tag opens Tuesday afternoon, and we’ll keep you updated on any breaking information regarding these developments.

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Franchise tag unlikely to be an option for the Saints in 2024

The franchise tag is unlikely to be an option for the Saints in 2024, but it carries heavy implications for some of their division rivals:

Never say never, but fans shouldn’t expect the New Orleans Saints to use the franchise tag in 2024. The team did a good jump last summer getting a jump on their upcoming free agents: players like defensive end Carl Granderson,  right guard Cesar Ruiz, and defensive end Cameron Jordan all signed extensions before they would have hit the open market this spring. They lack players the tag’s heavy price tag would justify keeping.

On top of that, they’re so far in the red that they need as many cap-friendly contracts as possible, and the franchise tag is a lead weight on that scale. Once handed out it cannot be restructured, reduced, or otherwise manipulated.

But the tag could make life difficult for some of New Orleans’ division rivals, specifically the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay has three key candidates headed for free agency in All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr., firebrand quarterback Baker Mayfield, as well as amateur boxer and wide receiver Mike Evans.

Of the three, Winfield is likeliest to receive the tag. It shouldn’t be hard for the Bucs to hammer out an extension with Mayfield. Evans is a different story. His contract voids on Monday, Feb. 19, accelerating $7.4 million onto their salary cap in dead money, and tagging him isn’t an option. He’s a rare case. If the NFL-estimated cap hit (for wide receivers this year, about $21.6 million) is lower than 120% of last year’s cap number, the team would have to pay the higher amount. In this case, that would be a fully-guaranteed $28.4 million, and the Bucs would have to balk at that.

Another team to watch: the Carolina Panthers. Spendthrift owner David Tepper has managed his money poorly and has been unable to sign pass rusher Brian Burns to a long-term extension, but he’s paid millions of dollars to multiple head coaches he’s fired (Matt Rhule, Frank Reich, and soon, history suggests, Dave Canales). The Panthers balked at both a multiyear deal with Burns and lucrative trade offers from other teams last year, then changed his position listing from defensive end to linebacker with a move to a 3-4 defense.

It means tagging Burns costs a little less (about $1.3 million), which could buy the Panthers more time to work on a longer deal. However, Burns could take them to arbitration arguing he’s a defensive end (with an estimated $23.3 million tag), not an outside linebacker (about $22 million), just as Jimmy Graham did with the Saints back in the day.

Burns will likely be staying in Carolina (largely against his will), but there’s a good chance Evans could be moving on as a free agent, catching passes and starting fights elsewhere around the league. Of course it’s possible the Buccaneers could hammer out an extension with him. They’re just going to have one less tool in their toolbox to negotiate with. The NFL’s two-week window to use the franchise tag opens on Tuesday, Feb. 20 and closes Tuesday, March 5.

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Who have the Dolphins used the franchise tag on before?

Here are all nine players the Dolphins have tagged in the past.

The 2024 NFL season is still months away, but the first step in getting there begins on Tuesday, as the window for franchising a player officially opens.

The NFL introduced the franchise and transition tags back in 1993 in their collective bargaining agreement. They allowed teams to retain players on one-year deals who were expected to hit the free-agent market when the league year opened.

This year, the Dolphins have a few candidates, including defensive lineman Christian Wilkins.

What does history tell us about what Miami could do? Let’s take a look at the nine players that the Dolphins have used one of the tags on since 1993.