"The NFL salary cap is rising at a rate allowing teams to hammer out more extensions than in previous periods. That has helped dilute free agency talent pools. This led to a 2025 landscape in which only two players - Tee Higgins and - received the franchise tag. The cap, which stood at $279.2MM in 2025, is expected to rise beyond $301MM this year."
"This year's free agent class looks to feature only one tag lock, but a handful of players make sense as candidates to be kept off the market. An antiquated NFL system regarding positional classifications also affects this year's free agency crop, as a couple of high-end UFAs-to-be (Tyler Linderbaum, Devin Lloyd) would likely be kept off the market if the league modernized how it sorted positions with regards to tag prices."
The franchise tag has existed for 34 years as a retention tool alongside full free agency. The NFL salary cap rose to $279.2 million in 2025 and is projected to exceed $301 million, enabling more teams to negotiate extensions and reducing the free agent talent pool. Only a handful of players are likely to be tagged this cycle, with possibly a single tag lock and several candidates teams could keep off the market. Positional classification rules affect tag pricing and could change who is protected. The transition tag offers no compensation for unmatched offer sheets. The tag window opens at 3pm CT, with clubs having until March 3 to apply tags.
Read at Pro Football Rumors
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