What can you expect ahead of tomorrows tag deadline?
March 9th at 4pm eastern is the NFL’s franchise tag deadline. Since opening up earlier this month, not many teams have used their franchise tag and time is almost up. So what can expect before tomorrows deadline and what players will be put on the tag, instead of or ahead of a new contract extension.
The one player everyone has been talking about since the end of the 2020 season to be put on the franchise tag, is Cowboys quarterback, Dak Prescott. Prescott and the Cowboys have been working towards a new contract for over a year now. Dak was put on the franchise tag last season mainly because of his seemingly ridiculous demands. So now this season, and despite his limited year in 2020, Dak is still demanding a massive contract which is close to what Patrick Mahomes received with the Chiefs last offseason. Wanting over $40 million a year is absurd, especially considering he has only one playoff win on his record. The Cowboys will try to negotiate with Dak and try to talk him off the ledge that he’s currently on, but if they are unable to get a contract finalized before tomorrow afternoon, expect them to place the franchise tag on Dak for the second year in a row. The Cowboys do not seem to want to move on from their quarterback, making him a prime candidate for the tag.
Next, is Haason Reddick with the Arizona Cardinals. Haason outplayed all his expectations from last season and he’s expected to stay on his current rate of play into next season. With the he addition of JJ Watt and Chandler Jones now being healthy, having that third deadly pass rusher should be extremely important to the birds. The Cardinals likely want him back, but probably not for how much the tag will fetch (over $10 million in cap hit). The team could tag him, let him test free agency, or extend him before or after the deadline.
Lastly, a list of names to look out for is Hunter Henry, Chris Godwin, Bud Dupree, Aaron Jones and Allen Robinson. All of these players have been significant in their team’s success and are all free agents. Bringing these players back is likely top priority for their teams.
In summary, once the deadline tomorrow passes, we’ll get a better look into what he league will look like next season. Will Dak be on a new team? Will anybody hold out because they don’t want to play under the tag? Very soon we will find out, stay tuned!