Franchise Tag Tracker Explainer: Cowboys WR Pickens tops 13 candidates
· Yahoo Sports
The NFL franchise tag window opens up Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m central time, signaling the first true milestone of the 2026 season. While the league still has not officially announced the salary cap for the coming season, or how much cap space its 32 teams can rollover from last year, the parameters are basically set. The Dallas Cowboys, as with most things offseason, are front and center.
With the salary cap range expected from $301 million to $305 million, teams who do quality self-accounting generally know how much wiggle room they are going to have under next year's cap. Teams will project how much it will cost to sign their rookie class based on their draft slots, as well as earmark several million to make moves in-season, and then go about spending free agent dollars starting in March.
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But the franchise tag window is going to be the first salvo for some teams. Between February 17 and March 3, teams can place the one-year tender on a pending free agent, essentially giving themselves either exclusive negotiating rights, or the right of refusal. If a player is given the non-exclusive tag, then they can shop themselves to other teams, but the original team can match the offer, receive two first-round picks as compensation, or negotiate a trade for lesser compensation.
The player is not required to sign the tender when he's slapped with the tag, but holds leverage in that ability. Once the player signs, the full amount of the tag is added to the team's salary cap for that season, hindering them from using that space on other moves.
Live Tracker of Franchise Tag News
All tag and tender news will be added here.
Here are more details to how the franchise tag (and the lesser used transition tag) works.
Exclusive, Non-Exclusive Franchise Tags, Transition Tag Explanations
Expected Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag Amounts By Position
These amounts are per OverTheCap:
- Quarterback: $47,321,000
- Wide Receiver: $28,824,000
- Offensive Line: $27,924,000
- Tight End: $16,319,000
- Running Back: $14,536,000
- Linebacker: $28,197,000
- Defensive End: $27,322,000
- Defensive Tackle: $26,311,000
- Cornerback: $21,414,000
- Safety: $20,876,000
- ST: $6,900,000
Top Players seen as Franchise Tag considerations
- Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson
- Chargers Edge Odafe Oweh
- Colts QB Daniel Jones
- Colts WR Alec Pierce
- Cowboys WR George Pickens
- Eagles Edge Jaelen Phillips
- Falcons TE Kyle Pitts
- Jaguars LB Devin Lloyd
- Jaguars RB Travis Etienne
- Jets RB Breece Hall
- Packers OT Rasheed Walker
- Ravens C Tyler Linderbaum
- Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: 2026 NFL Franchise Tag Tracker Explainer: Cowboys WR Pickens update