The window for NFL teams to apply the franchise tag opens in two weeks. Unlike last year when just two players received the tender (Bengals WR Tee Higgins and Chiefs G Trey Smith), there should be a lot more action this upcoming offseason. 

Here’s a look at the top candidates for the franchise tag and the considerations for each team to consider. Salaries for the tender projections are taken from Over The Cap: 

Cowboys WR George Pickens

After a monster 2025 season in a contract year, Pickens is set to capitalize big time this spring. Had the Cowboys had a better plan for their defense in 2025, they would have been able to take more advantage of their winning bet on Pickens. Now they’ll have to pay a premium to keep him in the fold. Pickens proved this past year that he’s capable of being a No. 1 receiver, piling up 93 catches, 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns while fellow Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb missed three games plus parts of others. 

When Dallas had both of them on the field, it often felt like there was nothing defenses could do to stop the Cowboys. In a league that’s big on keeping strengths strong, the Cowboys would love to run that duo back and keep piling up points on offense. 

To do that, the Cowboys are going to have to pay Pickens like a No. 1 receiver, and that’s become an expensive proposition given how the market for the position has risen. Lamb makes $34 million a year, while Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase leads all wideouts at a hair over $40 million annually. Pickens and his agent David Mulugheta — a name Cowboys fans remember after the Micah Parsons saga — will probably use Lamb’s contract as a starting point in extension talks. 

In comparison, the franchise tag is projected to be in the neighborhood of $28 million, which is a notable discount. Given Pickens’ production this past year, there’s no world in which the Cowboys let him test free agency. The franchise tag is an inevitability, at which point negotiations for a long-term deal will commence. Drawn-out contract standoffs have become an annual offseason event in Dallas the last few years between Parsons, Lamb and QB Dak Prescott, so get ready to add Pickens to the list. The tag gives the team leverage but it also gives Pickens and Mulugheta options to rattle the cage and make noise. 

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn’t mind the noise, though, so we’re in for plenty of Pickens headlines over the next six months. 

Colts QB Daniel Jones

Jones was smashing his contract year out of the park this past season before injuries derailed things. First there was a fractured fibula that Jones gutted out for multiple weeks despite it clearly limiting him. Then he tore his Achilles in Week 14. The Colts were 7-1 and the No. 1 offense in football in the first half of the season. In the second, they plummeted to 8-9 and all the way out of the playoffs. 

Still, Jones seems to have done enough to inspire confidence from the current Colts leadership. He wowed HC Shane Steichen from the jump with his work ethic and demeanor, and probably seized the starting job a lot earlier than when the official announcement was made in August. The Colts felt good enough about their standing at quarterback to trade two first-round picks for CB Sauce Gardner before the trade deadline. There’s little question that Jones is going to be back with the Colts in 2026 as the starter, the only question is on what kind of contract. 

That’s where the injury and the way things ended for Indianapolis come into play. The standard rehab for a torn Achilles is around six to nine months, which should give Jones enough time to be ready for Week 1. Returning to 100 percent is a different story, though, as many athletes say they didn’t feel like their former selves until over a year after the injury. Jones’ injury history besides this latest setback is also extensive. 

Steichen and Colts GM Chris Ballard believe Jones can be a viable long-term starter but both are also clearly on the hot seat entering the 2026 season. That could create some hesitancy for any long-term commitments beyond this season. However, if the Colts use the franchise tag on Jones, it will eat up around $47 million in cap space for the upcoming season. That’s a huge number that could be severely restrictive, especially with a handful of other prominent pending free agents. 

Some kind of long-term deal would be preferable for both sides, giving Jones a longer commitment and security despite his injury and giving the Colts more roster flexibility to build in a pivotal year. The two sides have a limited amount of time to figure out what that number needs to be, though. The tag window closes on March 3rd, a week before the start of free agency and only three months into Jones’ rehab. The timing of all of this will probably require the Colts to make a leap of faith or two to make the whole offseason come together. 

Colts WR Alec Pierce

If the Colts can work out a long-term deal with Jones before the franchise window closes, that would free up the tag for another player expected to have a hot market — Pierce. It would be a repeat of when Jones played out his rookie contract with the Giants and parlayed a breakout season into a huge deal, allowing New York to franchise RB Saquon Barkley. The Colts will hope things work out better for them than they did for the Giants. 

Pierce isn’t the star Barkley was, but he plays a position the league sees as a lot more valuable. He also took a huge step forward this past season. On just 47 catches, Pierce topped 1,000 yards and led the league in yards per catch for the second straight season (over 21 YPC both seasons). He scored six touchdowns and has 13 over the past two seasons. Beyond just being an obviously effective deep threat, Pierce developed into a more multi-level receiving threat this past season. 

As a result, Pierce is a legitimate franchise candidate despite not having the broad name recognition of someone like Pickens just yet. 30 is the new 20 when it comes to receiver salaries, and as an ascending player who turns 26 years old in May, Pierce could end up in the neighborhood of $30 million annually if a bidding war for his services breaks out. For the Colts, that makes the franchise tag a viable alternative if they have it at their disposal. 

Falcons TE Kyle Pitts

Pitts had fallen off remarkably from a rookie year where he became the second-ever tight end to crack 1,000 yards receiving in his debut season. He struggled to match that over the following two seasons combined. For the last three years, Pitts has been a remarkable non-factor for someone with his clear and obvious athletic gifts. But he and the Falcons got the train back on the tracks this past year it seems, with Pitts going over 900 yards and setting career bests in receptions (88) and touchdowns (five). 

It was good timing for the former No. 3 overall pick in the last year of his contract. Still just 25 years old, Pitts would be a hot commodity on the open market, which is why he’s unlikely to reach it. The franchise tag is available to the Falcons at around $16 million fully guaranteed on a one-year commitment. 

While that’s just inside the top five in average annual salary for the tight end position, it’s still an affordable number for the kind of impact Pitts is capable of making. It gives the Falcons options, either exclusive negotiating rights with Pitts to work out some kind of long-term deal before the deadline in July, or to make him prove last year is the new normal, not another one-off. 

Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker

Walker has been a pivotal player for the Seahawks this past year and Seattle is going to have to lean on him even harder in the Super Bowl with running mate Zach Charbonnet out with a torn ACL. The former second-round pick out of Michigan State via Wake Forest recorded his second 1,000-yard season this past year. He’s a short back at just 5-9 but he’s not small, listed at a sturdy 211 pounds. He’s a dynamic and explosive back who’s a threat to rip off a big gain any time he touches the ball, as evidenced by his career-best 5.2 yards per touch in 2025. 

Seattle liked Charbonnet a lot, too, especially in short-yardage situations where he was less likely than Walker to take risks that would lead to a loss. His injury makes it more of an imperative for the Seahawks to try to bring Walker back next year as Charbonnet’s recovery is likely to impact his availability in 2026. 

A long-term deal would obviously be Walker’s preference, but the tag is a common mechanism for teams to wield leverage over running backs and minimize their risk of any investment. Running backs have much more tenuous value year to year than most other positions. At around $14.5 million on a one-year commitment, the franchise tag is a solid investment for a player of Walker’s talent, especially because the Seahawks are flush with cap space going into 2026. 

Jets RB Breece Hall

There was plenty of smoke around Hall at this past season’s trade deadline, and it surprised a lot of people around the Jets when they held onto him despite being willing to part with cornerstone players like Gardner and DT Quinnen Williams. Reports from November indicated the Chiefs were the most interested team and put a fourth-round pick on the table, but the Jets wanted a third. 

A fourth-round pick is higher than what the Jets would have been in line for had Hall left as an unrestricted free agent, and that’s assuming they didn’t cancel out his loss by signing other free agents, which, given the state of the roster, would have been likely. So either HC Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey were wary of trading too many players away and fielding a roster that was so bad it would cost them their jobs — or Glenn can be taken at his repeated word when he said last year he envisioned Hall as a piece to build around. 

Although Hall has labored for some of the worst offenses in the league during his four years in New York, his talent has still shone through. He averaged nearly six yards per carry in his rookie season before a torn ACL. After returning, he’s maintained well above a 4.0 YPC despite being one of the few dynamic players on the Jets’ offense and a weekly focus of opposing defenses. 

The overall environment in New York has held down Hall’s raw volume stats, as this past year was his first over 1,000 yards rushing. But he’s been well over 1,000 in yards from scrimmage the past three years due to his proficiency as a receiver. He has every trait the league looks for in its star feature backs: size, home run speed, skill in the passing game, patience and vision. He’s still just 24 years old on top of all that. The Jets get a lot wrong but they’re right to want to hold on to Hall and avoid headlines about another star running back getting out of New York. 

Hall hasn’t openly said he wants to leave the Jets but it’s fair to assume from connecting a few dots that he wouldn’t mind exploring his options. The Jets are unlikely to let him do that easily To that end, the $14.5 million franchise tag is a valuable leverage piece in negotiations, albeit one that guarantees Hall a big chunk of money. 

Hall will face the decision many other backs before him have faced with the tag. He can sign it, play out the year and hope for good health and good results, only to face a potential second tag at 120 percent this year’s number in 2027. Or he can hold out, sacrificing the money and a year of his prime that he can’t ever get back if the Jets don’t cave to his demands. A few have tried the second path with poor results, like Le’Veon Bell and Melvin Gordon. But if Hall really doesn’t want to be a Jet anymore, he might be tempted to try it. 

Unlikely To Be Tagged

The following players are unlikely to be franchised for one reason or another. However, it’s not 100 percent out of the question that we see a surprise tag for someone on the list below. 

Ravens C Tyler Linderbaum

Normally players who are in the running for the best at their position, like Linderbaum is as a center, are clear franchise candidates. However, a quirk in the way the tag is calculated would make it hard for the Ravens to manage. The franchise tag does not differentiate between tackles, guards and centers, lumping them all under an offensive line value for the designation. Teams very much distinguish between those three, with tackles a top-tier premium position, guards booming in value after that and centers last. 

What that means is if the Ravens tagged Linderbaum, they’d be signing up to give him around $28 million fully guaranteed on a one-year pact. The current highest-paid center is Creed Humphrey of the Chiefs who makes $18 million per year. The last time a player moved the market at his position forward by $10 million a year was when Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes signed his first contract extension. Linderbaum is a great player, but he’s not in the same stratosphere as Mahomes. 

Jaguars RB Travis Etienne or LB Devin Lloyd

The Jaguars don’t have a ton of financial flexibility this year which would make it difficult to use the franchise tag even if they had practical candidates. On talent and production, Lloyd certainly fits the bill of a player Jacksonville wants to hold on to. The former first-rounder broke out after the team declined his fifth-year option last offseason, picking off five passes and earning second-team All-Pro honors. 

But in the same way the tag doesn’t distinguish between offensive linemen, it does not distinguish between off-ball linebackers and outside linebackers who are primarily edge rushers. There’s a big difference in contracts between those two. The top of the off-ball market is just over $20 million, while edge rushers are over $45 million annually. Franchising Lloyd would cost the Jaguars around $28 million fully guaranteed in 2026 — well over even the rosiest possible projections of what he’d command as an unrestricted free agent. 

The tag for Etienne would be a lot cheaper at a projected $14.5 million. He had more rushing yards than both Hall and Walker this past year, and in fact he has the same number of 1,000-yard rushing seasons as both Hall and Walker combined. Etienne is a solid receiving option as well, scoring six times through the air last season. 

However, you just have to watch Etienne play to realize he’s not quite the same caliber of player as Walker or Hall. He’s definitely a solid back but the other two are more dynamic and have higher ceilings in the right circumstances. It’s notable that the Jaguars drafted two runners last year in GM James Gladstone and HC Liam Coen’s first offseason, even if Etienne held both off this past year. I’m sure Jacksonville would love to have Etienne back but only at the right price, something I’m guessing is less than what the tag will be. 

Eagles OLB Jaelan Phillips

The Eagles gave up a third-round pick to bring in Phillips before the trade deadline, and it was a positive move for the team even if they didn’t win a Super Bowl and even if Phillips had just two sacks in green. He was much more disruptive on a snap-to-snap basis than that number indicates, and he also created opportunities for other rushers to capitalize on. Pro Football Focus credited him with 44 pressures in eight games. 

Now Phillips is set for free agency, and he should do well for himself despite relatively modest career numbers due to multiple major injuries. Last season showed the former first-rounder is physically recovered and teams will see him as an ascending player. The Eagles, obsessed as they are with maintaining a deep and potent pass rush, will try to keep him. Whether they would go so far as using the franchise tag to do so, though, is in doubt. 

The tag for outside linebackers is projected to be in the neighborhood of $28 million. That would suck up virtually all of Philadelphia’s cap space until an extension could be worked out and would probably mean walking away from most of their other pending free agents. There’s also the question of whether Phillips is worth that given he’s never reached double-digit sacks in his career. Even if the Eagles expect his best years to be ahead of him, betting $28 million on that would be a gamble. 

It’s far from a guarantee that Phillips would hit that mark in average annual salary on the open market. The best play for Eagles GM Howie Roseman might be letting Phillips test free agency and seeing if they can match his best offer, even if there’s more risk of losing him. At the end of the day, though, the Eagles have made it to where even if Phillips walks, they can potentially regain a third-round compensatory pick to defray the cost of trading for him in the first place. 

Chargers OLB Odafe Oweh

Another young pass rusher who was traded in a contract year this past season, Oweh had 7.5 sacks in 12 games for the Chargers after being dealt by the Ravens. He had zero in the five before that despite reaching 10 for the Ravens in 2024. His overall body of work would be thin for the franchise tag, so the Chargers should be able to come to an agreement on something more reasonable to keep him in the fold. However, it’s a conversation they’ll at least have to have internally. 

Jets OL Alijah Vera-Tucker

It would be unusual for a player who didn’t play a snap last season to be a candidate for the franchise tag. But there’s a case that Vera-Tucker is more valuable to the Jets than Hall, the more likely recipient of the tag. If both players were unrestricted free agents, Vera-Tucker’s market would probably outpace Hall’s by virtue of how the league values guards versus running backs. Prices for interior linemen, especially, have soared in free agency the past couple of years. Vera-Tucker, a 27-year-old former first-round pick, might exceed $20 million a year as a free agent. 

Granted, that’s an optimistic projection for his market. He’s one of the league’s better guards when he’s on the field and has Pro Bowl potential. However, Vera-Tucker has missed nearly as many games as he’s played since entering the league. He’s torn his triceps twice, once in 2022 and again this September which knocked him out the entire season, and a torn Achilles in 2023. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that triceps injuries aren’t typically long-term concerns, but the overall trend here will be concerning for teams looking to make a major investment. 

The franchise tag is also a lot less practical for guards than it would be for tackles. Even the lower end of the tag projections at $27 million would make Vera-Tucker the league’s highest-paid guard by a margin of a few million. Unfortunately it does not seem like the Jets have any alternatives other than to hope they can convince Vera-Tucker to forego other offers, as he’s on a course for unrestricted free agency.