Category: NFL News

The franchise tag deadline has come and gone with only two players getting tagged in 2025. This is a significantly lower amount than last season, as nine players earned the franchise and transition tag designation. With the rising salary cap, six players reached extensions, two players were traded and signed extensions with new teams, and one played the whole year on the tag. 

This was a unusual franchise tag deadline, as 17 players received the franchise or transition tag prior to the deadline over the last two years — making the lack of activity around the league so puzzling.

This ended up being the fewest players tagged at the franchise tag deadline since the 1994 season — one year after the NFL created the franchise tag (and it was initially created for quarterbacks). Only two players ended up getting the franchise tag ahead of the deadline, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins and Kansas City Chiefs right guard Trey Smith.

As Higgins and Smith were the only players tagged, this franchise tag deadline was uneventful compared to previous years around the league. And this was with the rising salary cap.

Regardless of the lack of activity regarding the tag, here were the winners and losers from the franchise tag deadline.

Winner: Tee Higgins

The Cincinnati Bengals couldn’t reach a long-term deal with Higgins, so he was tagged again for the second consecutive year. Higgins won’t get the opportunity to get a long-term deal on the open market, but he is getting a 120% pay raise from the Bengals. 

Higgins’ salary goes up from $21.8 million to $26.2 million for 2025, as he’ll be paid amongst the top-10 wideouts in the game. This also gives Higgins more time to actually reach a long-term deal with the Bengals, where his salary could balloon even higher. 

Since the Bengals failed to get a long-term deal done with Higgins again, his salary for 2025 may be a minimum of…

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The NFL’s franchise tag deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. Who will receive it this year? What will that mean for the free agent market? Here’s everything you need to know.

Which players have received the franchise tag?

Kansas City Chiefs OL Trey Smith

Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee Higgins

The Dallas Cowboys, meanwhile, worked out a four-year, $80 million deal with defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, who reportedly would have been place on the tag if a deal couldn’t be reached.

What is the NFL franchise tag?

The franchise tag is a designation NFL teams may use to retain one player set to be an unrestricted free agent and sign them to a set contract for another year. There are exclusive and non-exclusive tags, as well as transition tags.

Exclusive tags mean the contract must be no less than either the average of the top five salaries at that player’s position or 120% of the player’s salary the previous season, whichever is greater. It also means the player is not allowed to negotiate with other teams and may not sign with another team should they reject the offer.

Non-exclusive tags mean the contract must be no less than either the average of the top five cap hits at that player’s position or 120% of the player’s salary the previous season, whichever is greater. Unlike the exclusive tag, however, the player is allowed to negotiate with other teams, and if he receives an offer, his current team has the chance to match. If the team chooses not to match, it’s entitled to receive draft compensation equivalent to two first-round draft picks from the signing team.

Transition tags are another designation NFL teams may use to retain one player set to be an unrestricted free agent and sign him to a set contract for another year. The contract must be no less than the average of the top 10 salaries at the player’s position, and there is no guaranteed compensation. Also, players are allowed to negotiate with other teams.

What are the NFL franchise tag positional values for 2024?

Quarterback:…

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The Minnesota Vikings might have a new starting quarterback in 2025. Sam Darnold led the team to a 14-3 record last season, but he could be heading elsewhere for the upcoming season with the Vikings unlikely to use the franchise tag on him, according to NFL Media. 

The decision by Minnesota means that there’s a good chance Darnold will officially become a free agent on March 12. 

Darnold, 27, is coming off a career season with the Vikings that saw him rank fifth overall in passing yards (4,319) and touchdown passes (35), but he was on a one-year deal. The Vikings brought him in as a bridge quarterback after drafting J.J. McCarthy with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. But once McCarthy injured his knee during the preseason, Darnold was all but assured the starting role. 

2025 NFL franchise tag deadline: Time, date, everything to know, franchise vs. transition tags explained

Cody Benjamin

The Vikings could have guaranteed Darnold’s return to Minnesota for the 2025 season by using the franchise tag, but that would have cost them $40.2 million, which is a high number considering the Vikings only paid Darnold $10 million in 2024. 

According to multiple reports, the Vikings are going to attempt to re-sign Darnold, but if that does happen, the franchise tag won’t be involved. The NFL’s franchise tag deadline is 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, which means the Vikings have until then to make a final decision. 

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell hinted in early February that the team might end up letting Darnold hit free agency. 

“He’s earned the right to be a free agent,” O’Connell said on Feb. 6. “But we will continue to have ongoing dialogue and discussions with him and his…

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Fox Sports analyst Jimmy Johnson looks on before the NFC championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 29, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Chris Szagola / Associated Press)

More than three decades after first making the jump from the NFL sideline to a TV studio, Jimmy Johnson is retiring from his longtime role as an analyst on “Fox NFL Sunday.”

The 81-year-old Johnson made the announcement Monday morning during an appearance on “The Herd With Colin Cowherd.”

“The most fun I ever had in my career, and that’s counting Super Bowls and national championships, was at Fox Sports,” Johnson said. “I have an absolute ball with my friends on the set — best friends I’ve ever had — there with Fox. …”

“But I’ve made an extremely difficult decision. I’ve been thinking about it for the last four or five years, and I’ve decided to retire from Fox. I’m going to miss it. I’m going to miss all the guys, and I’ll see them occasionally. It’s been a great run starting back 31 years ago.”

Fox NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment on any potential replacements for Johnson.

Johnson was a defensive lineman at the University of Arkansas and helped the Razorbacks win the national title in 1964. He later was named to the school’s all-decade team for the 1960s and was inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame in 1999.

After college, Johnson went into coaching. His first head coaching job was at Oklahoma State from 1979-1983, then he moved on to the University of Miami, where he coached the Hurricanes to the national championship following the 1987.

In 1989, Johnson accepted the Dallas Cowboys job from team owner Jerry Jones, a former teammate from the Arkansas national championship team decades earlier. Following a win over San Francisco in the NFC championship game on Jan. 17, 1993, Johnson solidified his standing in team lore by greeting his players with what has become one of the best known rhetorical questions in the NFL:…

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The Cowboys and pass rusher Micah Parsons have begun discussions on a long-term contract extension.

Discussions toward a new deal are in the early stages of the process, according to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News.

Parsons is heading into the final season of his five-year rookie contract and scheduled to make $24.007 million in 2025. The Cowboys don’t have much salary cap space, and a long-term deal could be structured to give the team cap relief for 2025 with a signing bonus that Parsons receives this year but is prorated over the duration of the deal.

Parsons will surely want a contract that beats the deal signed by 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa, who averages $34 million a year and is the NFL’s highest-paid pass rusher.

It’s unclear whether Parsons will be willing to report to work if he doesn’t get a new contract. He may refuse to participate in any offseason activities until the Cowboys show him the money.

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It appears quarterback Jalen Milroe out of Alabama had a growth spurt. At the Senior Bowl, Milroe’s hand size measured in at 8 3/4 inches. One month later at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, his hand measured more half an inch bigger, at 9 3/8 inches.

His hands have somehow grown by 5/8ths of an inch in 28 days. That’s significant because the consensus for the smallest acceptable hand size for an NFL QB is 9 inches, and Milroe’s hands were initially measured as smaller than that. Now, he’s got bigger hands than both Miami’s Cam Ward and Ohio State’s Will Howard.

The likely explanation is that Milroe wasn’t spreading his hand properly when it was measured at Mobile, where those types of measurements don’t mean as much for prospects also attending the combine in Indianapolis. Or perhaps the measurement at one of the two locations was simply incorrect for another reason.

Milroe’s height remained the same at 6-foot-1 1/2, while his weight dropped three pounds, from 220 pounds to 217.

The dual threat quarterback used his arms and his legs in college, finishing with 71 total touchdowns (38 passing and 32 rushing). He had the most touchdowns in the SEC, but also had the most turnovers with 23. 

Jalen Milroe NFL Draft landing spots: Ranking five best fits for Alabama dual-threat QB

Garrett Podell

Last season, he had 20 rushing touchdowns and 16 passing touchdowns, which ranked 11th most in the nation and was No. 1 in the SEC. He finished with 15 turnovers in 2023, fourth most in the nation and most in the…

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No one is having an NFL scouting combine quite like TCU wide receiver Jack Bech.

Bech is competing in Indianapolis two months after the death of his older brother Tiger, who was among 14 people killed in the terror attack that rocked New Orleans on New Year’s Day. To honor him, Bech took the field Saturday wearing cleats with the Bible verse “And ye who stay on the path of righteousness shall reap what thine hath sewn,” and angel wings on the other side.

The cleats were the same he wore at the Senior Bowl, where he also wore his brother’s No. 7. Tiger played wide receiver at Princeton.

Bech performed well at the combine, showing strong hands in the gauntlet drill and holding his own in the measurement drills.

“I know my brother has got me now until the end of time. He pushes me to new heights. He will be with me. He’s got the best seat in the house,” Bech told NFL Network at the combine.

Bech is coming off an even more emotional performance in the Senior Bowl, where he earned MVP honors after catching the game-winning touchdown and getting mobbed by his teammates.

Bech is seen as a mid-round NFL Draft prospect who projects to find playing time as a possession receiver after leading TCU with 62 catches, 1,034 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Those stats earned him second-team All-Big 12 honors.

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