Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline for NFL franchise and transition tags has come and gone. All these gamers who might have been however weren’t tagged — like Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson and Colts receiver Alec Pierce — will both be re-signed to contract extensions over the subsequent few days or turn into free brokers. If it is the latter, they’ll be capable of negotiate with different groups as soon as the authorized negotiating window opens on March 9.
4 tags have been positioned this 12 months, and one was the transition tag. The Cowboys and Falcons secured receiver George Pickens and tight finish Kyle Pitts Sr., respectively, for one more season days earlier than the deadline. Jets working again Breece Corridor was franchise-tagged Tuesday, and Colts QB Daniel Jones was transition-tagged within the early afternoon earlier than the deadline. All 4 gamers will proceed negotiating long-term offers with their groups.
The tag is mostly good for groups and dangerous for gamers. However who particularly got here out on prime of this 12 months’s tag deadline? Listed here are my winners and losers of the day.
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When you’re ever questioning why staff homeowners cling so desperately to the franchise tag throughout negotiations with the NFLPA, look no additional than this example. George Pickens was, with out query, the most effective rising free agent of the 2026 offseason. Ludicrously gifted, he has each the 6-foot-3 body and flexibility to be a high-volume WR1, and the explosive downfield capability to be a complementary WR2. His lone season in Dallas was his best — 93 catches, 1,429 yards, 9 touchdowns — as he lastly loved high quality quarterback play outdoors of Pittsburgh. Pickens turns 25 on Wednesday, and he would have simply cleared $30 million per 12 months in common annual worth on a brand new long-term contract within the open market.
As an alternative, Pickens will play on a one-year, $27.3 million tag. It’s the nonexclusive tag, which permits Pickens to speak with different groups as soon as free company opens subsequent week. Ought to he signal a proposal sheet with one other staff, the Cowboys would have the correct of first refusal — they might signal Pickens to that very same deal. In the event that they elected to not signal Pickens, they’d obtain two first-round picks from the signing staff in recompense for Pickens’ departure.
The Cowboys now have a ton of flexibility of their negotiations with Pickens. The tag serves as a placeholder totally free company. If Pickens does not signal a proposal sheet with one other staff, the Cowboys can nonetheless negotiate and signal an extension with Pickens that replaces the tag altogether. The deadline for that deal is July 15 — loads of time for Cowboys proprietor and normal supervisor Jerry Jones to personal some headlines and make some waves.
If Pickens’ foray into free company reveals that he has a very monumental market — maybe even bigger than the $34 million per 12 months that CeeDee Lamb is making in Dallas — then the Cowboys would possibly find yourself priced out of Pickens’ market. Dallas is presently effectively over the 2026 wage cap. Whereas there are strikes out there to create area (resembling extending Pickens to decrease his 2026 cap hit under the $27.3 million determine of the tag), the Cowboys have already got two top-of-market offers at extensive receiver (Lamb) and quarterback (Dak Prescott). Do they need to pour a 3rd megadeal into the passing recreation when their protection is struggling for expertise?
It is unlikely {that a} staff trades the 2 first-round picks essential to signal Pickens to a proposal sheet — that is a steep worth. As an alternative, an buying staff can commerce for Pickens whereas he is on the tag, prolong him earlier than the July 15 deadline and ship Dallas draft capital commensurate with Pickens’ worth. Pickens was simply acquired by Dallas for a third-round choose final offseason. His worth has gone up … however not all the best way as much as two first-rounders. A number of Day 2 picks would possibly get the deal accomplished, although, and the Cowboys presently don’t have any second- or third-round picks within the 2026 draft.
The tag creates so many avenues for Jones and the Cowboys. Maybe nothing in any respect occurs, leaving Pickens to play on the tag; it might be an costly alternative, however the Cowboys have been extra prepared than most groups to go away gamers tagged. Nothing would shock me on this saga.
The Cowboys are winners on the deadline, however Pickens did not come out on prime. The silver lining for him is that the nonexclusive tag permits his illustration to drum up a market. Ought to cap-rich, WR-needy groups just like the Titans, Raiders and Patriots categorical monetary enthusiasm for Pickens’ companies, there could be stress on the Cowboys to get a deal — or a commerce — accomplished. However that is not assured.
Pickens was recognized for an inconsistent motor throughout his finest days in Pittsburgh. On his worst days, his on-field and locker room antics proved a distraction to the staff. Pickens is way from the primary star receiver to trigger some inside complications, in fact. However his popularity precedes him in league circles, and that might soften his market accordingly.
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Stephen Jones explains why Cowboys franchise-tagged George Pickens
Co-owner Stephen Jones tells Wealthy Eisen why the Cowboys used the franchise tag on George Pickens.
It acquired squirrely there for a minute, however Pierce will be capable of hit the open market if he so chooses. The Colts went all the way down to the wire on their tag choice, however ultimately elected to transition-tag QB Daniel Jones and run the chance of dropping Pierce in free company. The Colts know the worth of Pierce and can aggressively attempt to safe him to an extension earlier than the opening bell of the 2026 league 12 months. However with Pickens off the market, Pierce is the most important free agent title at extensive receiver. Will probably be powerful to maintain him from testing the open waters.
Pierce has led the league in yards per reception in every of the previous two seasons. In 2024, Pierce hauled in 37 of 68 targets (54.4%) for 22.3 yards per reception. In 2025, because the offense grew more healthy beneath Jones, Pierce’s quantity elevated. He snagged 47 of 84 targets (56.0%) for 21.3 yards per reception. He’s the one high-volume receiver over the previous two seasons to common greater than 18 yards per reception … and he has accomplished it twice.
Pierce is among the league’s preeminent deep threats, as he has true velocity (4.41 within the 40-yard sprint) and wonderful dimension (6-foot-3). He excels at ball monitoring and profitable above the rim in contested conditions. He can run away from one DB and field out the subsequent one. He is the true deal.
However Pierce’s yards per reception are additionally so excessive as a result of he was not often focused on short-breaking routes. ESPN charted 49.9% of Pierce’s routes as vertical routes in 2024 and 48.5% in 2025; the league common for high-volume extensive receivers is 36%. Pierce not often ran screens, slants, fast outs — something that may have dragged his air yards per goal or yards per reception down. The Colts, who employed Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs, merely didn’t want Pierce anyplace close to the road of scrimmage.
An buying staff can fairly pay Pierce as a extremely explosive WR2. Some monetary comparisons are Jameson Williams ($26.6 million per 12 months) and Tee Higgins ($28.8 million per 12 months). However as a result of Pierce’s position was much less about his deficiencies and extra concerning the Colts’ crowded room, enterprising groups can fairly mission Pierce into extra of a three-level position — and of a WR1, with an accordingly elevated price ticket.
Pierce ought to see a ton of curiosity, because the listing of WR-needy groups properly coincides with essentially the most cap-rich franchises. The Titans, Raiders and Jets all want receiver assist, and the Steelers and Patriots aren’t far behind.
Pierce strikes me as essentially the most Milton Williams-esque free agent within the 2026 class: His contract would possibly include some sticker shock as followers marvel how he’ll transition from his siloed position right into a full-time job. However that shock will shortly be forgotten as soon as he excels in his new house.
If the Colts do certainly retain Pierce, watch to see in the event that they transfer on from Pittman. The 29-year-old has one 12 months left on his deal at a $29 million cap hit, of which solely $5 million could be lifeless within the occasion of a commerce or launch. Even when Pittman stays in Indy, Pierce would see an elevated position on prime of a profitable deal in 2026. No one is happier at present to have dodged the tag than Pierce.
Jones was so, so shut to an enormous extension from the Colts. It would not have been his first huge payday — he already acquired one huge deal out of the Giants — however it might have been an infinite win for him after the one-year prove-it deal he signed with Indianapolis within the 2025 offseason. The optimum consequence.
Jones’ Achilles’ damage in Week 14 towards the Jaguars was devastating not simply to the Colts’ playoff hopes but in addition to Jones’ incomes potential. He possible would have signed a multiyear extension close to $40 million per 12 months earlier than taking place, however the severity of the damage and the restoration timeline stretching into the 2026 common season made issues shakier.
Nonetheless, with Colts normal supervisor Chris Ballard and head coach Shane Steichen each on less-than-solid floor in job safety, Jones was sure to return to the Colts — and that gave the QB leverage. The Colts and Jones have been in extension discussions for a very long time now, however Indianapolis wants Jones to flee QB purgatory slightly greater than Jones wants the Colts to maintain producing. So his illustration held out for a giant deal.
In response, the Colts dropped the transition tag on him. Critically, the transition tag isn’t the franchise tag. It’s a problem from the Colts’ brass to Jones’ representatives: Go see how sturdy his market actually is correct now.
The franchise tag has two choices. It may be both unique (uncommon, solely actually used on quarterbacks) or nonexclusive (extra frequent). The unique tag prevents the participant from negotiating with some other staff apart from the tagging staff. The nonexclusive tag, as talked about earlier, permits the participant to barter with different entrance places of work.
The transition tag operates equally. Jones can now negotiate with all 31 different groups when the authorized negotiating window opens on March 9. He can signal the most effective provide sheet he will get from the Vikings or Cardinals or Steelers or Dolphins. The Colts have the correct of first refusal and may signal Jones to that provide sheet as a substitute. But when they let him go away … they get no draft capital again. No two first-rounders, no third-round comp choose. Nothing.
The transition tag is not typically seen. The final was used on Kyle Dugger (2024), and earlier than that, it had not been used since 2020. The Colts used it on Jones as a result of they imagine no matter multiyear extension they’ve provided him so far is the absolute best provide he might get on the open market. And in the event that they’re incorrect, and another staff can pay him $3 million extra per 12 months than they have been providing, they’re comfy swallowing that additional money and signing Jones to the provide sheet.
One awkward trick of the provide sheets: As a result of the Colts might need to let one other staff do their work for them, they cannot arrange the damage ensures or efficiency incentives as they may like. Jones is coming off a serious Achilles damage, and a shrewd staff might guarantee Jones’ deal is definitely cuttable in future years ought to he by no means return to kind. Will one other staff give Jones much more grace on damage ensures and dare the Colts to make the leap?
It solely takes one, however normally, groups are unlikely to make use of provide sheets on tagged gamers to mess with different franchises. There are guidelines stemming from 2006 shenanigans between the Vikings and Seahawks, when Seattle transition-tagged guard Steve Hutchinson, that stop groups from placing “poison drugs” of their provide sheets to tagged gamers. That is particularly attention-grabbing as a result of the Vikings’ cap guru who constructed the poison-pilled contract in 2006 was vp of soccer administration Rob Brzezinski … who’s presently the Vikings’ interim normal supervisor. And the Vikings, who signed Jones off the road in 2025 to check beneath coach Kevin O’Connell, are in want of a quarterback.
It is nothing greater than meals for thought. It is uncommon to see transition tags truly finish in participant departure: The latest was Charles Clay in 2015. It is doubly tough when it is a quarterback, because it’s exhausting to think about the Colts ever letting a proposal sheet on Jones slide by and getting no return on his departure in any respect. This tag offers the Colts precisely what they need: a one-year dedication to see Jones post-injury. It’d burn them in subsequent 12 months’s negotiations, if he performs effectively and may demand excess of he would have gotten this season. However for now, they’ve management.
For Jones, it is not a horrible consequence. His finest soccer — and accordingly finest path to a giant contract — is sort of definitely with Steichen in Indianapolis. And he nonetheless would possibly get that deal accomplished; he can use free company to get an correct analysis on his market, then signal an extension with the Colts earlier than July 15. His play warrants a multiyear deal, and I might wager he ends this course of with one … if just a bit bit smaller than he hoped.
Tagged gamers are by no means really winners on the franchise tag deadline, as it’s explicitly a instrument that restricts their markets and makes contract negotiations tougher. However on the relative scale of participant outcomes, Pitts is a winner.
Like Pickens and Corridor, he’s on the nonexclusive franchise tag. However no staff would realistically commerce two first-round picks for a good finish, so Pitts will virtually definitely be a Falcon in 2026. His tag determine is available in at $16.3 million. That is the fourth-biggest TE cap hit for this season, and the three contracts above him (Dawson Knox, Dallas Goedert and T.J. Hockenson) are all both lifeless cap hits or launch candidates as we strategy the brand new league 12 months.
It is a stable pay day for Pitts, who’s coming off a profession season in 2025. Outgoing offensive coordinator Zac Robinson used him extra beneath, which allowed Pitts to extend his receiving quantity from the field-stretching position he first stuffed when drafted by Atlanta in 2021. Pitts was second solely to Trey McBride in targets (118), receptions (88) and receiving yards (928) final season, largely resulting from a profession low in air yards per goal at 7.1. But Pitts was nonetheless effectively above the league common for tight ends (6.3). He is rounding into a real three-level risk.
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Ought to the Falcons be getting extra out of Kyle Pitts Sr.?
Tim Hasselbeck particulars why it is sensible for the Falcons to make use of the franchise tag on Kyle Pitts Sr.
Solely 25 years outdated, Pitts is due for a top-of-the-market extension. However the Falcons would possibly maintain their water and ask him to have one other season of high-volume receiving manufacturing earlier than they provide him the large new contract. It is a honest hesitation. It took Pitts a number of years to come back again from his 2022 knee damage, which clearly sapped his athleticism in 2023 and into 2024. He’s additionally a below-average blocker for the place (although he has improved over current years), so if he does not match within the new offense as a cross catcher, he will not present a lot ancillary worth.
Excellent news, although: The brand new offense is captained by ex-Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and referred to as by ex-Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, each of whom have been good for tight ends. Rees was Cleveland’s tight ends coach in 2024 earlier than getting into the OC position in 2025; Stefanski was the tight ends coach in Minnesota from 2014 to 2015 as he labored his method up the teaching ranks. Browns third-round rookie tight finish Harold Fannin Jr. shined final season with 72 catches for 731 yards regardless of poor quarterback play and no star receivers dragging protection away from him. And David Njoku, a developmental draft choose who was struggling earlier than Stefanski took the Browns job, blossomed within the years spent beneath that workers’s tutelage.
If Pitts performs on the tag, it is honest to anticipate one other stable season of manufacturing. He is an excessive amount of of a singular expertise to completely vanish from the offense, even when the brand new workers does not prioritize getting him the ball. Way more possible is a long-term extension signed over the subsequent few months. The tight finish market will shake up close to the highest when gamers like Hockenson are launched, and after that mud settles, I think about the Falcons will ink Pitts to a multiyear deal that does not exceed the $19 million per 12 months made by McBride and George Kittle however is available in just under.
Corridor does not appear significantly keen about being a Jet. The working again was tweeting by way of it through the commerce deadline when teammates Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams have been shipped away for large returns. The Jets took calls on Corridor, however no deal price his worth materialized, and Corridor stayed in New York for the remainder of the season.
Now, Corridor is watching one other escape hatch shut, because the Jets have tagged him after failing to safe him to a long-term extension earlier than the deadline. The Jets and Corridor can proceed to barter up till the July 15 deadline on an extension that may change the tag, which is available in at $14.3 million. However one factor’s for sure: Corridor isn’t hitting free company in 2026.
That is dangerous information for Corridor. Nonetheless tremendous younger (24, turning 25 in Might) and much faraway from a serious knee damage in his rookie season, Corridor hit 1,000 speeding yards for the primary time in his profession in 2025. His movie is much better than his numbers on a foul Jets offense would point out. He has big-play capability as a runner, and in a more healthy offensive ecosystem, he’d see far extra space. He’s additionally one of many extra dynamic receiving backs within the league. Over the previous three seasons, solely Bijan Robinson, Christian McCaffrey and Jahmyr Gibbs have extra receiving yards.
The 2026 free agent working again class is gifted. Had Corridor hit the open market, he would have joined Kenneth Walker III, Travis Etienne Jr., Rico Dowdle, Tyler Allgeier and Kenneth Gainwell. However he would have been the crowning jewel of that group, and with the current success of sizable free agent RB contracts (Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry), Corridor would have pushed for a deal close to the highest of the place.
Corridor can nonetheless signal that $14 million-plus extension with the Jets if the ice thaws between him and the group. If it does not, he can refuse to signal the tag and maintain out of necessary minicamp and coaching camp. Corridor wouldn’t be fined for lacking these in any other case necessary occasions, as a result of he isn’t a signed participant with the staff. This absence might prolong even into the common season, at which level Corridor would begin forfeiting recreation checks.
The much more possible consequence: Corridor would use the stress of his absence to pressure the Jets into signing him to an even bigger long-term extension or adjusted one-year deal that ensures he hits free company in 2027.
Walker has had an amazing 2026. He was already hitting a scorching streak because the Seahawks entered the playoffs, and as soon as working mate Zach Charbonnet acquired harm, he took to the full-time job with aplomb. Have a look at Walker’s manufacturing splits from the primary 10 weeks of the Seahawks’ Tremendous Bowl season to the ultimate 10 weeks.
Walker hits free company with the league’s most up-to-date reminiscence of him as an MVP within the Tremendous Bowl, and now his major contender in free company — Corridor — is tagged and off the market. Whereas Etienne can be a three-down again with leaguewide curiosity, Walker is now the highest working again within the free agent class. And the 2026 draft class on the place is extraordinarily skinny after projected top-10 choose Jeremiyah Love.
There’s demand at working again — the Saints, Chiefs, Broncos, Cardinals and Steelers all need assistance there. And the provision simply acquired thinner with Corridor tagged. That may solely drive Walker’s worth additional up. And ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Seattle had no intentions of tagging Walker at that $14.3 million determine.
I might be shocked if Walker ends the cycle with lower than Alvin Kamara’s $12.25 million-per-year deal, which is the fifth-biggest lively working again contract by yearly cap hit. A deserved payday awaits him subsequent week.
