From 2015-24, the NFL saw five or more franchise tags placed on players each of those offseasons. A total of five tags were used the past two years.
The deadline to tag players in 2026 passed Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.
Only three teams used a franchise tag, with Jets running back Breece Hall, Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens and Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts tagged as non-exclusive franchise players. In 2025, Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins and Chiefs offensive guard Trey Smith were the only players tagged.
The only other time two or fewer players were tagged was 1994, the first year of the franchise tag, when Pittsburgh tight end Eric Green and Vikings defensive tackle Henry Thomas received their team’s franchise tag.
The Colts placed the transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones on Tuesday.
Teams will have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal with tagged players, or the players will play on the tag for 2026.
Falcons Clips
The NFL is a deadline-driven business. And an important annual deadline arrives today.
The two-week window for applying the franchise or transition tag closes at 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
There’s really no reason for a two-week period. All that matters is the end, not the beginning. And while there’s some value in applying the tag before the Scouting Combine as a way to short-circuit tampering efforts, only two teams put the word out before things got rolling in Indianapolis that key players would be off-limits — Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. and Cowboys receiver George Pickens.
Will there be more? Obviously, if any will happen, it will happen today.
The players to watch are Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (and, if they work out a deal with him today, Colts receiver Alec Pierce), Jets running back Breece Hall, and Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
If no additional tags are applied, it will be the second straight year with only two. And the two applied in 2025 were the fewest since 2006.
Time will tell. And the clock is ticking. We’ll know at 4:00 p.m. ET who is, and isn’t, blocked from the open market by the franchise or transition tag.
The Falcons will be playing in Madrid, Spain, in 2026.
The NFL announced today that the Falcons will be one of the participants in the previously announced Madrid game. It is expected to be a Falcons home game, and the Falcons will play eight games in Atlanta. NFC teams have nine home games in 2026.
The Falcons’ opponent has not been announced, but of their nine home opponents this year, the Lions, 49ers and Saints can be ruled out because they already have international games set for this season. Two of the Falcons’ 2026 home opponents, the Bears and Chiefs, have international marketing rights in Spain, so they would be natural choices to play there.
The game will be played at Bernabéu, home of soccer team Real Madrid. The date of the game has not been announced. It is expected to be a 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff, which has become the standard kickoff time for NFL games in Europe.
The NFL is planning a total of nine international games this season, with Madrid joining Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Munich, Mexico City and three games in London.
The Falcons announced earlier this year that they would be making a change to their uniform and they announced the date that their new look will be revealed on Monday.
In a video posted to their social media accounts, the Falcons shared that they will be unveiling the changes on April 2. The video features various Falcons players reacting to the uniforms without any revealing any glimpses of what they look like.
The Falcons switched to their current uniforms with an “ATL” abbreviation above the numbers in 2020. The team reintroduced red helmets as an alternate to their black headgear in 2022 and they have paired them with black throwback uniforms from the 1966 season in recent years.
There have been reports that the team will be going to red jerseys as their primary home uniform and we’ll find out if that’s the case in a month.
He was the first overall pick in the 2019 draft. And he’s destined to be looking for a new team.
So where will quarterback Kyler Murray’s career continue?
Barring a trade, which is unlikely unless the Cardinals pay a bunch of money and/or attach a draft pick to the sale of cap space, he’ll be cut. The Cardinals already owe Murray $36.8 million for 2026, with another $22.55 million hitting the books in the middle of March. The moment he was placed on injured reserve while recovering from a foot injury, the message was clear — Murray had played his last game for the Cardinals.
For plenty of coaches, there’s a minimum height requirement at the position, and Murray isn’t tall enough to ride the ride. Thus, as a threshold matter, a prospective employer has to be comfortable with Murray’s stature.
Last year, as the trade deadline approached and we poked around regarding the possibility of a trade, we heard that Murray was interested in joining the Raiders or the Vikings. The draw to Las Vegas, however, was offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. He’s now back at the college level.
Would the Vikings want Murray? They could possibly get him for the league minimum of $1.3 million, with the Cardinals paying the balance of his $36.8 million pay. (That’s what the Steelers did in 2024, when signing Russell Wilson and sticking the Broncos with most of his compensation.) The bigger question is whether coach Kevin O’Connell believes Murray would fit the Vikings’ offense.
Here’s another intriguing possibility, in our view: The Falcons. Coach Kevin Stefanski has no apparent qualms regarding shorter quarterbacks; Dillon Gabriel started multiple games for Stefanski and the Browns last year. And Atlanta has plenty of potent offensive weapons, from Bijan Robinson to Drake London to Kyle Pitts Sr.
The X factor in Atlanta will be president of football operations Matt Ryan, a former quarterback who measures six feet, five inches. Ryan may prefer a more traditional quarterback to hold down the fort while Michael Penix Jr. recovers from an ACL tear and the Falcons figure out whether he’s still the guy.
Still, the price could be just right on a one-year deal, for the Vikings, Falcons, or any other team currently looking for a new starter. And the Cardinals will likely be paying Murray a lot of money to play for another team in 2026.
It’s amazing the relationship lasted as long as it did. The Cardinals made it to the playoffs once in Murray’s seven seasons. And the ill-advised homework clause in his second contract drove a wedge that was never going to go away.
The cash and cap realities of that second deal made it hard to sever ties. Even now, it will leave a mark on Arizona’s books.
We’ll see whether Murray and his career record of 38-49-1 can make a mark in a new NFL city.
The Falcons have made another addition to their defensive coaching staff.
The team announced that Patrick Toney will be their defensive pass game coordinator. Toney had agreed to become the new defensive coordinator at Ole Miss earlier this year, but the school will now have to look for someone else to fill that role.
Toney spent the last three seasons as the Cardinals’ defensive backs coach. He was the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Florida in 2022 and the defensive coordinator at Louisiana for two seasons before joining the Gators.
The Falcons also fired assistant defensive line coach LaTroy Lewis on Friday.
Teams making decisions about picking up the fifth-year options on the contracts of their 2023 first-round picks now know how much that will cost.
The NFL revealed the values on Friday afternoon. There are four levels of compensation at each position. Players who have made multiple Pro Bowls as an original selection are at the top followed by players with one Pro Bowl selection and players who have hit playing time milestones before reaching the lowest level.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud were the first two picks of that draft and both of them reached the playing time level of compensation. That will leave them with fully guaranteed salaries of $25.904 million if the teams decide to exercise the options, but longer-term extensions are also a possibility now that they have finished their third seasons.
The full list of 2023 first-rounders — there were 31 that year because the Dolphins were stripped of their pick — and their fifth-year option salaries appears below:
1. Panthers QB Bryce Young — $25.904 million (playing time).
2. Texans QB C.J. Stroud — $25.904 million (playing time).
3. Texans DE Will Anderson — $21.512 (Pro Bowl).
4. Colts QB Anthony Richardson — $22.483 million (base).
5. Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon — $21.161 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
6. Cardinals OT Paris Johnson — $19.072 million (playing time).
7. Raiders DE Tyree Wilson — $14.475 million (base).
8. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson — $11.323 million (Pro Bowl).
9. Eagles DT Jalen Carter — $27.127 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
10. Bears OT Darnell Wright — $19.072 million (playing time).
11. Titans OG Peter Skoronski — $19.072 million (playing time).
12. Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs — $14.293 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
13. Packers DE Lukas Van Ness — $14.475 million (base).
14. Steelers OT Broderick Jones — $19.072 million (playing time).
15. Jets DE Will McDonald — $14.475 million (base).
16. Rams CB Emmanuel Forbes — $12.633 million (base).
17. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez — $18.119 million (Pro Bowl).
18. Lions LB Jack Campbell — $21.925 million (Pro Bowl).
19. Buccaneers DT Calijah Kancey — $15.451 (playing time).
20. Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba — $23.852 million (Pro Bowl).
21. Chargers WR Quentin Johnston — $18 million (playing time).
22. Ravens WR Zay Flowers — $27.298 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
23. Vikings WR Jordan Addison — $18 million (playing time).
24. Giants CB Deonte Banks — $12.633 million (base).
25. Bills TE Dalton Kincaid — $8.162 million (base).
26. Jets DT Mazi Smith — $13.391 million (base) Smith was traded to the Jets by the Cowboys.
27. Jaguars OT Anton Harrison — $19.072 million (playing time).
28. Bengals DE Myles Murphy — $14.475 million (base).
29. Saints DT Bryan Bresee — $13.391 million (base).
30. Eagles LB Nolan Smith — $13.752 million (base).
31. Chiefs Felix Anudike-Uzomah — $14.475 million (base).
The NFL set the 2026 salary cap at $301.2 million on Friday and they also revealed the franchise and transition tag numbers that teams will be able to use on their own free agents.
The Cowboys will be using the non-exclusive tag on wide receiver George Pickens and that will carry a salary of $27.298 million for the coming season. Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts has also been tagged and the team will owe him $15.045 million if he plays out the year under the tag.
Non-exclusive tags are set at the higher of the sum of the previous five franchise tags at a player’s position divided by the salary caps for those years or 120 percent of the player’s salary from the previous season. Players who receive that tag can sign offer sheets with other clubs and their original team receives two first-round picks if they choose not to match the offer.
Exclusive franchise tags are also available. The salary is set at the greater of the top five salaries at their position for the previous year or the non-exclusive amount and players who receive that tag cannot negotiate with other clubs.
No players have received a transition tag at this point, but there is some speculation that the Jets will use it for running back Breece Hall. That amount would be $11.323 million, which is derived from the average of the top 10 prior year salaries. Teams can match any offer sheets for players on transition tags, but they do not receive any compensation for choosing not to match.
The non-exclusive franchise tag and transition tag amounts for each position are:
Quarterback: $43.895 million (franchise), $37.833 million (transition)
Running Back: $14.293 million, $11.323 million
Wide Receiver: $27.298 million, $23.852 million
Tight End: $15.045 million, $12.687 million
Offensive Line: $25.773 million, $23.392 million
Defensive End: $24.434 million, $21.512 million
Defensive Tackle: $27.127 million, $22.521 million
Linebacker: $26.865 million, $21.925 million
Cornerback: $21.161 million, $18.119 million
Safety: $20.149 million, $16.012 million
Kicker/Punter: $6.649 million, $6.005 million
The Falcons have fired assistant defensive line coach LaTroy Lewis.
The team issued a statement on Friday morning saying that they were aware of an allegation of violence against a woman against Lewis and that they were “in the process of gathering information” about the incident. The team followed that up by announcing that they have dismissed Lewis on Friday afternoon.
Lewis was an assistant coach at Michigan at the time of the alleged violence and Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com reports that the Ann Arbor Police Department has opened an investigation into those allegations.
Lewis was hired by the Falcons earlier this year. He coached at Michigan in 2023 and 2024 and spent the 2025 on Toledo’s staff.
The Falcons say they are gathering information about an allegation of violence against a woman by assistant defensive line coach LaTroy Lewis.
“We are aware of allegations regarding LaTroy Lewis,” the Falcons said in a statement. “We are in the process of gathering information and will have no further comment at this time.”
The Falcons’ statement comes after social media posts from reporter Justin Spiro detailed allegations of violence that a woman made against Lewis. The allegations stem from Lewis’s time as an assistant coach at Michigan, where he worked in 2023 and 2024.
The 32-year-old Lewis had a brief NFL playing career and has coached at the college level since 2020. The Falcons hired him as assistant defensive line coach this month.
