![]() The “linebacker” designation for franchise tag purposes includes 3-4 outside linebackers for example, edge rusher Shaquil Barrett had the linebacker franchise tag placed on him for the 2020 season. Some may have expected to see linebacker Matt Milano instead, but the franchise tag positional designations provide our reasoning here. This leaves Ngakoue as the likely candidate in Baltimore. Ultimately, the Ravens agreed to take the average of the two numbers ($17.808M and $15.828M) and pay Judon $16.808 million for 2020, meaning a second tag for him would eclipse $20 million. This isn’t the first time this has happened, and it won’t be the last. ![]() The Ravens originally placed the linebacker franchise tag on him, but he argued he was a defensive end. Ngakoue’s teammate, edge rusher Matthew Judon, also negotiated a revised franchise tag number for 2020. The second franchise tag number is either the league-wide number or 120% of the player’s prior year salary - whichever is greater. Ngakoue agreed to take a substantial pay cut just to get out of Jacksonville, dropping his $17.788 million franchise tag all the way down to $12 million. That certainly could be more indicative of his feelings about the organization than the franchise tag, however.īut it’s not impossible, and a very important wrinkle here is that Ngakoue did not negotiate a no-tag provision into his revised one-year, $12 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings (who then of course traded him to the Ravens midseason). This may not be too likely, as the reason Ngakoue even found himself in Baltimore this year was because of his refusal to play on the franchise tag in Jacksonville. Neal is a prototypical box safety who could play fast and downhill for his former head coach Dan Quinn, now the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator, or in a number of other predominantly Cover 3 schemes. This could potentially work against a reunion in Atlanta. However, new defensive coordinator Dean Pees runs a lot of Cover 2 looks, and many feel that wouldn’t jell well with what Neal excels at. Neal capitalized on the opportunity to showcase his talent before hitting free agency, particularly demonstrating his durability while playing almost 1,000 snaps. He played the 2020 campaign on a $6.466 million fifth-year option. The Falcons stuck by Keanu Neal after injuries knocked him out for almost the entire 20 seasons. This enables the Cardinals to get a complete look at Reddick as an edge rusher and then perhaps pay him after 2021 when Chandler Jones will also be a free agent coming off his age-31 season. The Cardinals may still want to see more from their 2017 first-round selection, and as a result of the drop in the salary cap, his franchise tag number isn’t all that different from the roughly $10 million fifth-year option that Arizona declined after the 2019 season. He was named PFF’s “ biggest surprise” at edge rusher for the 2020 season, in large part because of an absolute tear over the final four weeks of the campaign - including a five-sack outing against the Giants. The former off-ball linebacker made the switch for the 2020 season, and once he settled into his new role, he exploded down the stretch. Reddick’s explosion at the end of the season is exactly the type of situation the franchise tag mechanism was designed for (at least in theory), as the Cardinals now would presumably like to see another full season of Reddick playing on the edge. With these numbers in mind, we took a look across the NFL to discuss the most likely franchise tag candidates for all 32 teams (if there is one).ĪRZ | ATL | BLT | BUF | CAR | CIN | CHI | CLE | DEN | DAL | DET | GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC | LVR | LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WFT ARIZONA CARDINALS: EDGE/LB Haason Reddick Using that figure, franchise tag projections tentatively come out to: Position Designation Teams may use only one tender per offseason, so the decision has ripple effects across the roster.įollowing Adam Schefter’s report that the salary cap is expected to be between $180 million and $181 million, we split the difference with a $180.5 million 2021 salary cap projection. The first important date of the 2021 offseason is already right around the corner, as February 23 marks the opening for when teams can place the franchise or transition tenders on their respective free agents. The NFL never sleeps, and neither do we here at PFF.
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