Cardinals Don’t Plan To Tag OLB Chandler Jones

According to Ian Rapoport, the Cardinals don’t plan to franchise tag OLB Chandler Jones. 

This doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as a tag for Jones would have been a 20 percent raise on his cap number for 2021, which would have come out to more than $25 million. 

Rapoport adds the Cardinals would still like Jones back but given that he requested a trade last summer when the team declined to work on a long-term deal, it seems the odds of a reunion are low. 

Jones will test free agency and should have a robust market even though he’s an older player, as he’s been one of the league’s most productive pass rushers the past several years and had double-digit QB takedowns in 2021. 

Jones, 32, 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 in 2016 for G Jonathan Cooper and a 2016 second-round pick. Arizona franchise-tagged Jones before signing him to a five-year, $82.5 million deal. 

Jones made a base salary of $15.5 million in 2021.

In 2021, Jones appeared in 15 games for the Cardinals and recorded 41 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, one recovery and four pass deflections. 

We have him included in our Top 100 2022 Free Agents list.