Three players received the franchise tag before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline. Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens, Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts and New York Jets running back Breece Hall each received the non-exclusive franchise tag from their respective teams. The Indianapolis Colts placed a transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones.
That means when free agency gets going next week upon the start of the new league year, those first three players will not hit the open market. The teams and the players have until July 15 to continue negotiating a long-term contract extension. If no deal is reached by that time, the player will be locked in for the 2026 season and become an unrestricted free agent next offseason. For Jones, teams can still negotiate with him and sign him to an offer sheet, but the Colts maintain the right to match. If they choose not to, they will not receive any draft compensation.
While it wasn’t surprising that Jones, Pickens, Pitts and Hall received tags, there were several other players who were in contention to be tagged. Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from the franchise tag deadline.
Winners
Kenneth Walker III (and Travis Etienne)
Running back value on the open market can be dicey. It’s been almost seven years since the Cowboys gave in to Ezekiel Elliott’s holdout demands and gave him a huge contract in 2019. Since then, running backs on the open market haven’t cashed in as they once did, with a few exceptions, such as Saquon Barkley.
The top of the 2026 running back free-agent class was fairly thin. There were only three running backs in the top 50 of The Athletic’s Top 150 free agents, and all three were in the top 10. With the Jets taking Hall off the open market, and the Seattle Seahawks opting not to tag Walker, the most recent Super Bowl MVP enters free agency as arguably the top running back on the market. Walker was No. 8 on The Athletic’s free agents list and is coming off a season in which he set a career-high in scrimmage yards and had a standout performance in the Super Bowl to help the Seahawks win the championship.
Etienne is in a similar boat to Walker, minus the Super Bowl performance. The No. 10 player on the top 150 had a stellar season and set a career-high in touchdowns. After Walker and Etienne, the next running back is Rico Dowdle at No. 53.
Daniel Jones
The Colts bought in on the Daniel Jones redemption story in 2025, as evidenced by trading future first-round picks for star cornerback Sauce Gardner. The Colts clearly didn’t feel like they needed draft ammunition to find their franchise quarterback because Jones was already in the building; all he needed was a contract extension.
Jones’ play suffered after he fractured his fibula, and then his season ended soon after when he tore his Achilles. By that point, the Colts were too deep into it with their view of Jones as their quarterback.
Jones would probably prefer a long-term contract extension, and that’s still on the table until July 15. But even if that doesn’t happen this offseason, it’s not a bad deal for Jones to turn half of a good season after years of subpar play into more than $35 million guaranteed in 2026, even as he works his way back from a serious injury.
Cowboys drama enthusiasts
Remember last offseason when the Cowboys had a long-term contract extension looming with a key player in Micah Parsons, and Jerry Jones said at the height of the negotiation period that he didn’t even know the name of Parsons’ agent? The agent’s name was David Mulugheta and he’s one of the most well-respected agents throughout the NFL. He also happens to be the agent for Pickens, who the Cowboys just franchise tagged, even though the wide receiver is looking for a long-term contract.
Pickens has been in Dallas for less than a year, and that’s included a smooth fit in the offense with fellow high-priced stars Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. It also had brief periods of question marks on the field, and a one-series benching last season for missing curfew when the team played in Las Vegas against the Raiders. Both sides may be sound in their reasoning for their emotions about the franchise tag, which only adds to the theatrics. And nobody will love it more than Jones himself.
Losers
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars had quite the turnaround in 2025, going from a 4-13 team the previous year to 13-4 and a division crown. After the 2024 season, they chose to decline the fifth-year option on 2022 first-round pick, linebacker Devin Lloyd. That backfired for the Jaguars, as Lloyd had a career year in 2025 and has set himself up for a nice payday as one of the better off-ball linebackers in the NFL. The Jaguars also got an offensive lift from Etienne, both as a runner and a receiver out of the backfield, and he’s also set to hit the open market and be one of the main prizes at his position.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts aren’t major losers because they did get Jones on the transition tag, which is about $5 million less than what the non-exclusive tag would have been. But they are in a dicey situation, as they chose to go all in on a quarterback who has a lengthy history of mediocrity after only a small sample size of promise. In doing so, they also exposed one of their promising wide receiver talents, Alec Pierce, to the open market.
The good thing is that if the 2026 season doesn’t go according to plan and the Colts want to hit a hard reset, they can start fresh with a new head coach and quarterback in 2027, assuming Jones stays on the tag and doesn’t sign an extension before training camp.
Cincinnati Bengals
It feels like the Trey Hendrickson saga has gone on for centuries in Cincinnati. It’s been no secret that Hendrickson has been unhappy with his contract situation and the Bengals chose to deal with that last season by extending him for just one more year. The 2025 season ended up being a lost one for the Bengals. After injuries cut Hendrickson’s 2025 season short and limited his trade possibilities during the season, the Bengals will just let him walk instead of trying to get back a haul when his value was high.