Bears Franchise Tag Allen Robinson
One of the big dominoes has now officially dropped. The Bears have placed the franchise tag on star receiver Allen Robinson, a source told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
This news was expected, as Chicago has insisted all along they aren’t going to let Robinson walk. This is the second consecutive year the team has tagged Robinson. There’s been some strife between the franchise and the player, and although Robinson has said he isn’t opposed to continuing to play for the Bears, he’s also made it clear he didn’t want to be tagged. Robinson now joins Chris Godwin as top receivers getting tagged, while the Lions are letting Kenny Golladay hit the open market.
We heard a few weeks ago that the two sides hadn’t had any talks about an extension since way back in September, so they’re at a bit of a stalemate. Robinson, who is reportedly seeking top of the receiver market money on any long-term deal, was liking tweets encouraging him to skip town late in the year.
This doesn’t guarantee Robinson will be back in Chicago in 2021, as it’s been reported that a tag and trade scenario is a strong possibility. The Bears could realize they’re never going to pay Robinson what he wants on a massive contract and decide to get something out of him while they can. The tag is slated to pay him around $18MM if he plays under it this coming year.
The Penn State product has been incredibly consistent over the years considering the inconsistent quarterbacks he’s been paired with. He’s put up at least 1,147 yards and six touchdowns in each of the past two years.
Lions Won’t Franchise Tag Kenny Golladay
The Lions have gone on record to say that they want to keep Kenny Golladay. However, they won’t automatically keep him from the open market. The Lions have decided against using the franchise tag on their star wide receiver, as Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. 
Now, the Lions have less than a week to keep Golladay on a new deal, before he can start chatting with other teams. From a financial perspective, it would behoove Golladay to wait. After the latest round of franchise tags and recent extensions, Golladay now profiles as one of the very best players on the open market.
Hamstring and hip injuries limited Golladay to just five games last year. All in all, he finished with 20 receptions for 338 yards and two touchdowns. It was hardly the platform year he wanted and, apparently, it wasn’t enough for the Lions to give him a top-5 salary at his position.
“We want to make the best decision for the Lions, and sometimes those decisions take a little bit longer,” GM Brad Holmes said recently. “We’re not gonna rush it, so whether it is a franchise tag on a [Romeo Okwara] or Kenny or whoever it is, we’ll definitely have a process in place that we believe in that we’re trusting … and we’re sticking to it and [making] sure it meets the Detroit Lions’ timeline and that’s really the thing that matters the most.”
The Lions now have the tag available for Okwara, but it’s not a given that they’ll cuff the edge rusher. It’s also not a given that Golladay is a goner, of course, though the Lions’ WR group is due for a reset no matter what. Veterans Marvin Jones, Danny Amendola, and Mohamed Sanu are also out of contract, leaving youngster Quintez Cephus as the last one left.
Jaguars Tag Cam Robinson
Now, a surprise tag. The Jaguars will use the franchise tag on offensive tackle Cam Robinson (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 
Robinson was set to be one of the top tackles available this offseason and the Jaguars were expected to let him test the open waters. Instead, they’ll retain him at the top-five average for his position, which should come out to roughly $14MM for 2021.
You’d be hard-pressed to find any evaluator that would rank Robinson in the top five at tackle. In fact, Pro Football Focus assigned him an overall grade of 61.7, which placed him in a tie for 59th in the NFL. Still, Robinson is only 25 (26 in October) and young left tackles tend to get paid. Replacing Robinson this year or next year would have been costly, so the Jags opted for the tag. The decision may raise some eyebrows, but a sub-$14MM deal isn’t all that much for youth at a premium position.
Robinson will likely be protecting Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick. He’ll have until the summer to hash out a long-term deal with the Jaguars, which would allow the team to smooth out his cap hit. A long-term pact could provide Robinson with security, though he’d also have to trade in multiple prime seasons.
Buccaneers Franchise Tag Chris Godwin
Chris Godwin isn’t going anywhere. On Tuesday, the Buccaneers assigned the franchise tag to the standout wide receiver, yanking him from the open market. 
Godwin will get a considerable pay raise, going from $4.65MM in the final year of his rookie contract to $16MM+. The tag is likely being deployed as a placeholder for a multi-year deal and will allow the two sides to negotiate between now and the middle of July. Players often bristle at the franchise tag, but Godwin is an exception.
“Yeah, I mean, the way I look at it, similar to like a lot of guys,” Godwin said to MJ Acosta of NFL.com (via Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com). “Obviously, we all want to have long-term security; we all want to be able to take care of the people that we love. So that’s the ideal situation. But, you know, a franchise tag is not something that I can control. If that’s what keeps me here, then that’s what it is. And I’ll play on it and go back to war with my guys. Like I said, I love it here in in Tampa. I love what we have building, and I would love to stay.”
Godwin, a former third-round pick, broke out in 2019 with 86 receptions for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns en route to his first Pro Bowl nod. The stage was set for an even bigger year in 2020 — especially with Tom Brady on board — but he was also joined by a cavalcade of new stars, including Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown. The 24-year-old ultimately finished with 65 catches for 840 yards and seven scores in 12 games. In four postseason contests, Godwin added another 16 grabs for 232 yards and one TD.
Godwin wasn’t the Buccaneers’ only candidate for the tag. Teams can only cuff one player per offseason, which means that edge rusher Shaq Barrett and inside linebacker Lavonte David are now scheduled to be free agents.
Panthers To Franchise Tag Taylor Moton
The Panthers will use the franchise tag on tackle Taylor Moton, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. This was the expected move, though a long-term deal remains possible. 
Moton, a 2017 second-round pick, has started 48 straight games at right tackle. The Panthers weren’t about to let him walk. Instead, they’ll tag him for the coming year for a yet-to-be-determined amount. In all likelihood, it’ll put him at around $15MM.
Pro Football Focus has graded Moton as a top-20 tackle in each of the past three years. He came in as a top-five right tackle in 2020, providing all the more reason for the Panthers to retain him. Now, the two sides will have until mid-July to hammer out a multi-year deal.
As a reminder: Offensive linemen are grouped together under the franchise tag formula, meaning that tagged guards often outperform their market. Tags for interior linemen are becoming more and more common, however — Brandon Scherff, for example, just scored his second straight.
Giants To Tag Leonard Williams
The Giants are expected to assign the franchise tag to Leonard Williams (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). This marks the second straight tag for the defensive lineman, though the two sides intend to continue discussions on a multi-year deal. 
Per the collective bargaining agreement, Williams will earn a 20% raise on his 2020 tag. Last year, his tag was worth just over $16MM. This year, the tender would amount to $19.351MM.
The Giants’ decision to tag Williams was widely panned last year. Williams responded with a career-high 11.5 sacks, vindicating GM Dave Gettleman in the process. No one knew what to expect from Williams, but after setting a new watermark for sacks plus 14 total tackles for loss and 30 quarterback hits, he would have profiled as one of the most prized players in free agency.
Williams is said to be seeking a ~$20MM/year deal. That’s the figure he wanted last year and, this time around, it sounds like he’ll get what he wants. For his career, the Jets’ former No. 6 overall pick has 48 tackles for loss and 131 quarterback hits across six seasons. He also has 29 career sacks. Much to the Jets’ chagrin, he’s logged more than 30% of those for the Meadowlands’ other tenant.
Raiders Trade Trent Brown To Patriots
Trent Brown is going back to New England. On Tuesday morning, the Raiders agreed to trade the tackle and a 2022 seventh-round draft pick to the Patriots in exchange for a 2022 fifth-rounder (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport).
Brown was due $14MM in salary, a sum that was too rich for the Raiders’ blood. It was set to be the third year of his massive four-year, $66MM deal, but last year’s setbacks gave them second thoughts. He started strong, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2019 as a right tackle. Then, two stints on the COVID-19 list limited him to just five games in 2020. When asked recently about Brown’s future with the team, Raiders GM Mike Mayock said the jury is “still out.” Now, Brown is out of town.
“When he’s healthy, he’s dominant,” Mayock said after the season ended. “And you’ve got to juxtapose that with his inability to play, week to week, over a two-year period. We’ve got to get a more consistent player. We think he’s the best right tackle in the league when healthy.”
The 27-year-old (28 in April) agreed to re-work his contract as a part of the deal. Instead of two years at $29.5MM, Brown will play on a new one-year, $11MM pact.
Brown enjoyed a tremendous season with the Patriots in 2018. That year, he started in all 19 regular and postseason games en route to a Super Bowl championship. Pro Football Focus was bullish on his performance too, ranking him 32nd among 80 eligible linemen.
Cowboys, Dak Prescott Agree To Extension
The Cowboys’ two-year negotiation saga with Dak Prescott is over. The team announced it has an extension agreement in place with its five-year starting quarterback.
This will prevent Dallas from having to tag Prescott for a second time, at a $37.7MM price, and give the franchise long-sought-after quarterback security. This deal comes after a few reports indicating increased optimism appeared present in Round 3 of the parties’ negotiations. Such reports turned out to be prescient.
The numbers are in. This is a major win for Prescott. Dallas’ QB1 agreed to a four-year, $160MM contract, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Dak will receive an NFL-record $126MM guaranteed, with Schefter adding that the deal will also includes a $66MM signing bonus and $75MM in Year 1 (Twitter link). The latter figures are also NFL records. This monster accord will come with a no-trade clause and will prevent the Cowboys from tagging Prescott again in 2025, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Incentives could bump the deal to $164MM.
The NFL now has two $40MM-per-year players — Prescott and Patrick Mahomes. While Mahomes’ $45MM-per-year deal is a Chiefs-friendly accord, in that it is a 10-year pact, Prescott’s tops Deshaun Watson‘s contract ($39MM AAV) in terms of traditional quarterback pacts. Prescott’s 2021 cap number will be $22.2MM, Schefter tweets. The Cowboys will use two void years to help with signing bonus proration, Schefter notes (on Twitter).
After haggling with Team Dak for nearly two years, the Cowboys made an aggressive push to finalize this deal Monday, Schefter tweets. The team became more amenable to a shorter-term Prescott pact, per Ed Werder of ESPN.com (on Twitter) this time around. The Cowboys had previously sought a five-year contract for their quarterback; that ended up prompting Prescott to play last season on the tag. The team’s newfound urgency surely stemmed from the March 9 franchise tag deadline.
Prescott, 27, became extension-eligible after the 2018 regular season ended. The former fourth-round pick and Offensive Rookie of the Year played the 2019 season on his rookie deal and played the 2020 slate on the tag. A day ahead of this year’s deadline to designate franchise players, the sides concluded this arduous process. By avoiding the $37MM-plus payment clogging up their cap, the Cowboys will have more free agency funds. It took an incredible financial commitment to do so.
When Prescott first became eligible for an extension, the NFL had not seen a player land a $35MM-AAV pact. Russell Wilson did so in April 2019. No $40MM-per-year player emerged until Mahomes’ summer 2020 extension. By moving into a third offseason of negotiations, Prescott was able to secure a tremendous agreement — compared to where these negotiations started. And he did so after suffering a brutal ankle injury last October. Prescott underwent a second surgery in December but is expected to be ready for training camp. The Cowboys’ inability to compete without Prescott last season may only have increased their QB’s leverage.
A two-time Pro Bowler, Prescott is not held in the same esteem as Mahomes or Watson. But Kirk Cousins was certainly not viewed as a top-tier quarterback when he secured a then-record $28MM-per-year contract in 2018. Cousins used the two-tag scenario to pave a path out of Washington; the Cowboys paid up to stop Prescott from following such a route.
The Cowboys must now build a competitive roster around this contract. They spent much of 2019 and ’20 authorizing extensions for core players; they now have Prescott locked down. The team will be banking on the next round of TV deals producing significant cap spikes in the near future — a matter on which Jerry Jones is well informed. That coming to pass would help the organization assemble a strong team around Prescott going forward.
Washington Franchises G Brandon Scherff
For the second straight March, Brandon Scherff will be part of a franchise tag transaction. Washington is again moving to cuff its top offensive lineman via the tag, NBC Sports Washington’s J.P. Finlay tweets.
Because Scherff played last season on the tag, he will carry a hefty price. It will cost Washington $18.04MM to tag the six-year veteran guard. The sides hope to finalize a long-term deal; doing so would lower Scherff’s 2021 cap number. Washington is set to carry plenty of cap space, however. Even after the tag, the team holds more than $35MM.
Scherff, who joined Joe Thuney last year in being the first guards tagged since 2011, has traveled the Jadeveon Clowney route by playing out a fifth-year option season and playing a subsequent season on the tag. Unlike Clowney, however, Scherff has now received a second tag. The clock is ticking on his ability to maximize his value. Despite being a 2015 draftee, the four-time Pro Bowl blocker will turn 30 later this year.
Washington ended a messy divorce with Trent Williams last year, leaving Scherff as its cornerstone O-lineman. While Scherff has battled a few injuries in recent years, he returned to top form after his most recent malady. Returning from an early-season MCL injury, Scherff played a key role in elevating Washington back to the playoffs. He earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in doing so.
Washington has until July 15 to finalize an extension with Scherff. Considering his lofty tag price, the team will likely continue efforts to extend Scherff ahead of free agency’s March 17 outset. The Iowa product’s tag price is far and away the highest salary for a guard this year. As far as long-term deals go, no guard is making as much in average salary as Scherff earned last year on the tag ($15MM). He stands to fetch a high price on an extension.
Dolphins To Acquire Titans T Isaiah Wilson
The Titans are moving on from Isaiah Wilson after just one season. They will trade the 2020 first-round tackle to the Dolphins, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Titans GM Jon Robinson issued an ultimatum of sorts to Wilson recently, but word soon emerged that the Titans were shopping the disappointing blocker. The Dolphins, who already drafted a first-round tackle in 2020, will acquire another Round 1 edge blocker from that class.
The Dolphins will send a 2021 seventh-round pick to the Titans in exchange for Wilson and a 2022 seventh-rounder, Albert Breer of SI.com tweets.
Considering the price the Titans paid to land Wilson — the No. 29 overall pick last year — this marks a major discount for the Dolphins, who will be landing Wilson at a cheaper rate as well. The Titans will incur $9MM-plus in dead money by trading Wilson after his rookie year. Though, it remains to be seen if Wilson’s troublesome 2020 will void any guarantees in his rookie contract. The Dolphins were high on Wilson going into the 2020 draft, per Wolfe (on Twitter), and they are taking a flier on a player who is signed through 2023.
Wilson played just four snaps as a rookie, running into multifront trouble last year. He was issued a trespass warning for attending a party at Tennessee State University last summer. That preceded a September DUI arrest. The Titans suspended Wilson in December and ended his season by placing him on the reserve/NFI list days later. Wilson voiced a desire to leave the Titans, in a since-deleted tweet, earlier this year. The Dolphins, who selected Austin Jackson with the third of their three 2020 Round 1 picks, will give Wilson a second chance.
The former Georgia tackle’s stock has certainly nosedived from where it was at this point last year. The Titans selected him with the hope he would succeed Jack Conklin at right tackle. Former swing tackle Dennis Kelly ended up starting there instead. Kelly is under contract through 2022. The Dolphins drafted tackle Robert Hunt in the 2020 second round and still have guard/tackle Jesse Davis under contract.