0 out of 10
Daniel Kucin Jr./Associated Press
The deadline for NFL teams to distribute the franchise labels came and went on Tuesday, and nine players were essentially removed from next week’s free agent draw as recipients of the labels.
These nine fallen dominoes have a major impact on the dynamics surrounding free agency and off-season in general, as well as some of the movements that they were not done during the franchise brand window.
Here are the winners and losers who come out of the process.
1 of 10
Terrance Williams / Associated Press
The tag window often weakens the pass-rushing market because teams value edge defenders so much that they are willing to pay premiums to keep them around. But that was not the case this year.
Leonard Williams of the New York Giants was the only defender of the seven strikers to be hit with the tag, meaning that all scorers scheduled to hit the open market remain on track to do so next week.
This means that needy teams like Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Atlanta Falcons may be at stake for high-profile runners.
On the menu for now? Super Bowl hero Shaquil Barrett, young star Yannick Ngakoue, three-time Pro Bowler Jadeveon Clowney, Matt Judon of the Baltimore Ravens in 2020, promising the Pittsburgh Steelers Bud Dupree advantage, the hugely underrated Carl Lawson and the escape stars 2020 Trey Hendrickson and Haason Reddick.
2 of 10
Peter Joneleit / Associated Press
Instead, 33% of the tags were used on the Marcus Maye, Justin Simmons and Marcus Williams safety devices, which were slapped by the New York Jets, Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints, respectively.
This is not necessarily good news for any of these players, because the security tag is not a relatively big payday, but the two Marcuses still profited despite a combination of zero nods in the Pro Bowl and Simmons is at least making money extra because it’s your second tag.
Instead, the real losers are the teams that seek to reinforce the security position in this off-season.
The market for Anthony Harris of the Minnesota Vikings and John Johnson III of the Los Angeles Rams has probably become much more competitive. Harris is a marvel of a potential success that came back to earth last year after a successful 2019 campaign and is on the verge of his 30-year season, and Johnson has not lived up to an incredibly strong second-year season in 2018.
This is bad news for security-hungry teams like Browns, Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys.
3 out of 10
Jeffrey Phelps / Associated Press
According to Over The Cap, the Green Bay Packers could have paid running back star Aaron Jones about $ 11.1 million to return under the franchise brand and about $ 8.9 million with the transition brand. . But it appears that Green Bay, without a ceiling, decided instead to let Jones enter the open market.
It makes sense, considering Jamaal Williams is likely to come out cheaper and they used a second-round choice in AJ Dillon’s draft last season, but it’s also probably good news for Jones.
Delaying shelf lives are often very short, and the back can fall off cliffs in this league. Many of the big ones peaked well before experimenting with free will. But Jones was kindly used in his first two seasons, so teams looking for help on the ground can be thrilled with a 26-year-old who must have plenty of tire tread coming out of a Pro Bowl season.
The choice of the fifth round of 2017 marked 30 touchdowns in the last two seasons, and in 2020 he ranked fifth among qualified backs with an average of 5.5 yards per attempt.
A capitalization-rich team with a defensive gap, like the Jets or the Miami Dolphins, is likely to make Jones very rich next week.
4 out of 10
Steve Luciano / Associated Press
Defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the off-season with four particularly important looming free agents, three of whom are defensive highlights (Barrett, Lavonte David and Ndamukong Suh) and only one of them plays in the attack (wide receiver Chris Godwin) .
But despite the presence of Mike Evans, Scotty Miller and Tyler Johnson on the receiver’s depth chart and despite the fact that pass-catchers Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski probably cost less than the Godwin tag, the Bucs gave Godwin the designation.
Now, Tom Brady’s receiving body looks like it will be incredible again, but it’s fair to ask whether the Bucs can avoid a significant defense blow. They are still above the projected salary cap, according to Spotrac and while ESPN’s Jenna Laine reports they have a deal in place for David, Barrett in particular will likely become very expensive after his outstanding game during the Tampa Bay Super Bowl.
It is extremely difficult to successfully defend a title in this league, especially if you lose a centerpiece like that. Tampa could still find a way to bring everyone back, but it would help if the board could strike a long-term deal with Godwin to reduce its projected 2021 ceiling. $ 16.4 million.
5 out of 10
Tony Ding / Associated Press
Godwin and Allen Robinson II of the Chicago Bears were marked, no doubt leaving the Detroit Lions out of Kenny Golladay as the best pass-catcher scheduled to hit the open market. That alone is already promising if you are Golladay, but the reality is that he should be afraid of etiquette anyway.
After all, with his 28-year season approaching, Golladay is old enough for a rookie free agent. In addition, he has lost much of two of his first four seasons and is coming out of a campaign that has been hampered by injuries to the hamstrings and hips.
Another season like this under the brand could have condemned the choice of the third round of 2017, but now it will arrive as the beauty of a ball that will not contain Godwin and Robinson. All others scheduled to become available – Will Fuller V, JuJu Smith-Schuster, TY Hilton, to name a few – have warts. And Golladay’s size and athleticism can attract a team desperate for recipients with space on the roof to give him much more guaranteed money than he would have earned under the Lion brand.
See Jaguars, Jets, Dolphins, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts or Washington Football Team to make that happen.
6 out of 10
Matt Ludtke / Associated Press
Golladay’s possible departure is bad news for Lions’ new quarterback Jared Goff, who could be without the team’s most talented receiver.
To start with, a shallow receiver market in general could make it difficult for Detroit to retain titleholder Marvin Jones Jr., which fell just under 1,000 yards in 2020.
Is Goff moving towards reconstruction? At the very least, he won’t have as much support in Detroit as he did in Los Angeles, which could make it difficult for him to prove to Lions and the rest of the football world that it is worth it. $ 104 million due to him over the next four years.
The new Lions general manager, Brad Holmes, has a previous relationship with Goff, but he will not discard writing a quarterback. This could be a decisive season for general choice No. 1 in 2016, and the team’s decision not to score Golladay does not represent an ideal start.
7 out of 10
Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press
Jaguars offensive tackle, Cam Robinson, is part of the winner’s circle mainly because he was the most amazing winner of the franchise brand this offseason.
The choice of the second round of 2017 may have gotten a decent contract somewhere just because he plays a premium position, but he would still potentially be competing with star Trent Williams out of consideration and he never qualified well in Focus on professional football despite joining the league with a lot of enthusiasm.
He has also lost 17 games in four years and has struggled with penalty shootouts in the left tackle in Jacksonville. But now he will have another chance on $ 14.5 million, which is very good considering its lack of achievement as an NFL tackle.
In addition, the Jags will likely want to give the expected new quarterback Trevor Lawrence as much consistency and continuity as possible, meaning that Robinson is likely to stay beyond Lawrence’s rookie campaign, unless he fails completely in 2021.
8 out of 10
Tyler Kaufman / Associated Press
THE other The ex-Jaguars’ second-round selection, called Robinson, to be scheduled on Tuesday, is probably not as lively. That’s because Allen Robinson II remains trapped in a Chicago Bears attack that was among the 10 worst in DVOA (above-average defense-adjusted value) at Football Outsiders in each of the past two seasons.
The three-time 1,000-yard catcher showed strong numbers in both campaigns in Chicago, but it is fair to imagine how much more productive he could have been in a decent attack. It will make a solid $ 16.4 million for a season under the brand, but it may be difficult for him to increase his value before the next off-season, at which point he will be an eight-year veteran approaching 30.
Robinson can hope that the desperate Bears will find him a better defender this season, but only three teams are in the worst form of salary cap in Spotrac and they have no main squad capital after sneaking into the qualifiers in 2020.
It is not promising.
9 out of 10
Ron Jenkins / Associated Press
Technically, 10 tags were delivered before Tuesday’s deadline. The tenth belongs to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who was marked in a procedural move associated with the four-year $ 160 million contract he agreed to on Monday.
Basically, it just means that it is highly unlikely that Prescott will be scored again in the future.
By “avoiding” a $ 37.7 million tag to earn an average annual salary of $ 40 million as part of a deal that will almost certainly pay him a minimum of $ 126 million over the next three years, the 27-year-old succeeded as a bandit.
10 out of 10
Butch Dill / Associated Press
Somewhat unbelievably, a Saints team that is still projected to be more than $ 55 million above the salary cap tapped an important player on Tuesday. And while it’s great that the underrated safety Marcus Williams remains on the list, that $ 11.2 million price tag is not cheap and Williams probably wouldn’t save much money on a long-term deal.
It just means that New Orleans will have even more work to do to squeeze under this year’s cap, which reminds me a lot of Lloyd Braun’s mantra “serenity now, insanity later”. Soon, guys like Michael Thomas, Andrus Peat, Alvin Kamara, Demario Davis, Cameron Jordan and Malcolm Jenkins will become comically expensive, especially if they keep pushing money back into their businesses.
Who cares, right? The limit will explode when the new television deals begin! But that could leave the Saints paying absurd bills for the status quo, while the rest of the league celebrates with free agents to gain ground or move away from a New Orleans team stuck in neutral.