Deadline Passes Without Deals For 12 Franchise Players

July 15, 2020

The deadline to sign franchise players to extension officially passed on Wednesday without deals in place for 12 players.

The full list includes:

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott
Giants DL Leonard Williams
Buccaneers EDGE Shaq Barrett
Ravens EDGE Matthew Judon
Broncos S Justin Simmons
Chargers TE Hunter Henry
Vikings S Anthony Harris
Redskins G Brandon Scherff
Patriots G Joe Thuney
Jaguars EDGE Yannick Ngakoue
Steelers EDGE Bud Dupree
Bengals WR A.J. Green

This, of course, means that all 11 will play out the 2020 season under the franchise and position themselves to be unrestricted free agents in 2021.

The ongoing pandemic clearly factored into the number of extensions handed out this summer, as it’s possible there could be salary cap ramifications based on the loss of revenue the NFL could experience.

The NFL and NFLPA are expected to consider smoothing the salary cap to prevent a substantial decline but nothing has been agreed to as of now.

In the end, Chiefs DL Chris Jones walked away with a four-year, $85 million contract and Titans RB Derrick Henry was able to get a four-year, $50 million deal in place before the deadline today.

Prescott, 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Cowboys back in 2016. He’s entering the final year of his four-year, $2.72 million contract and was in line to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

In 2019, Prescott appeared in all 16 games and completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 4,902 yards, 30 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He has also rushed for 277 yards and three touchdowns for Dallas. Pro Football Focus rated him as the No. 10 quarterback out of 37 qualifying players.

Henry, 25, is a former second-round pick of the Chargers back in 2016. He just finished his four-year, $6.38 million contract that included $3.98 million guaranteed and made a base salary of $1.32 million over the final year of the agreement.

In 2019, Henry appeared in 12 games for the Chargers and caught 55 passes for 652 yards receiving and five touchdowns. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 12 tight end out of 67 qualifying players.

Green, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Bengals back in 2011. He just finished the final year of his five-year, $70.176 million contract that included $26.75 million guaranteed and set to make a base salary $11.97 million in 2019.

Green has landed on injured reserve each of the past two seasons after undergoing surgery for torn ligaments in his toe in 2018 and tearing ankle ligaments in training camp in 2019.

In 2018, Green appeared nine games for the Bengals and caught 46 passes for 694 yards receiving and six touchdowns.

Thuney, 27, was drafted by the Patriots in the third round out of N.C. State in 2016. He signed a four-year, $3.538 million rookie deal and made a base salary of $720,000 for the 2019 season.

In 2019, Thuney started all 16 games for the Patriots. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 5 guard out of 80 qualifying players.

Ngakoue, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Jaguars back in 2016. He played out the final year of his four-year, $3.48 million contract and made a base salary of $834,269 for the 2019 season.

In 2019, Ngakoue appeared in 15 games for the Jaguars and recorded 41 tackles, eight sacks, an interception, a defensive touchdown, four forced fumbles, a recovery and six passes defended. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 36 edge rusher out of 107 qualifying players.

Harris, 27, wound up signing on with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia back in 2015. He spent most of his rookie season on the Vikings’ practice squad before eventually being called up in December.

Harris re-signed with the Vikings as a restricted free agent in 2019. He was slated to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career this offseason when the Vikings franchised him.

In 2019, Harris played in 14 games and recorded 60 total tackles, one fumble recovery, six interceptions including one returned for a touchdown and 11 passes defended. He was rated as Pro Football Focus‘ No. 1-ranked safety out of 86 qualifying players.

Simmons, 26, is a former a third-round pick of the Broncos out of Boston College back in 2016. He played out the final year of his four-year, $3.02 million rookie contract that included a $645,420 signing bonus.

Simmons is now in line to once again be an unrestricted free agent in 2021.

In 2019, Simmons started all 16 games and recorded 93 tackles, four interceptions, and 15 pass breakups. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 2 safety out of 82 qualifying players.

Scherff, 28, is a former No. 5 overall pick by Washington out of Iowa in the 2015 NFL Draft. He signed a four-year, $21.215 million fully guaranteed rookie contract and is playing out the fifth-year option on that deal.

Washington picked up Scherff’s option in 2018 and paid him $12,525,000 for the 2019 season. Scherff is in line to be an unrestricted free agent in 2021.

In 2019, Scherff started 11 games for Washington before landing on injured reserve. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 10 guard out of 80 qualifying players.

Barrett, 27, signed with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State in 2014. He was waived coming out of the preseason and re-signed to Denver’s practice squad.

After bouncing back and forth between the practice squad and active roster, Barrett landed on the active roster at the end of his rookie year. Barrett signed with the Buccaneers as an unrestricted free agent in 2019 to a one-year, $4 million deal.

In 2019, Barrett appeared in all 16 games for the Buccaneers and recorded 58 total tackles, 19.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, one interception and two pass defenses. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 25 edge defender out of 107 qualifying players.

Judon, 27, is a former fifth-round pick of the Ravens back in 2016. He played out the final year of his four-year, $2.595 million contract before being franchised by the Ravens.

Judon is in line to be an unrestricted free agent in 2021.

In 2019, Judon appeared in all 16 games for the Ravens and recorded 54 tackles, 9.5 sacks and four forced fumbles.

Williams, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2015. He was in the final year of a four-year, $18.6 million rookie contract and was set to earn a base salary of $2,975,574 in 2018 when the Jets picked up his fifth-year option last April.

Williams made a base salary of $14.2 million for the 2019 season and was now in line to be an unrestricted free agent again in 2021.

In 2019, Williams appeared in 15 games for the Giants and Jets and recorded 46 tackles, 0.5 sacks, one forced fumble and three pass defenses. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 36 interior defender out of 114 qualifying players.

Dupree, 27, is a former first-round pick out of Kentucky by the Steelers in the 2015 NFL Draft. He was in the final year of a four-year, $9.22 million rookie contract when the Steelers picked up his fifth-year option that paid him $9,232,000 for the 2019 season.

Dupree was in line to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his NFL career before signing his franchise tag tender.

In 2019, Dupree appeared in all 16 games for the Steelers and recorded 68 tackles, 11.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, two recoveries and three passes defended.