The Arizona Cardinals have officially used their franchise tag on OLB Chandler Jones Monday, according to Albert Breer.
The franchise tag will run the Cardinals $15.701 million fully guaranteed for the 2017 season.
This should come as no surprise, considering both the team and reports have said that the tag was likely coming for Jones if they couldn’t get a long-term deal done at some point in the near future.
Arizona reportedly plans to prioritize a long-term deal for Jones even after using the franchise tag on him, as opposed to putting negotiations aside until later on in the year. The two parties will have until July to negotiate a long-term extension, but after that, they wouldn’t be able to discuss a new deal until the following year.
Jones, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Patriots back in 2012. He played out his four-year, $8.173 million contract before the Patriots picked up his fifth-year option back in April of 2015.
The Patriots elected to trade Jones to the Cardinals last offseason for G Jonathan Cooper and a 2016 second-round pick.
In 2016, Jones appeared in all 16 games and recorded 49 tackles, 11 sacks, two forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and three pass defenses for the Cardinals. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 7 edge rusher out of 109 qualifying players.
We had him featured in our Top 100 – 2017 Free Agents list.
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