NFL Teams Hand Out Nearly $100M in 1-Year Deals at Tag Deadline

Four NFL players are getting tagged this offseason, as the start of the 2026 league year draws near.

The Colts placed the rarely used transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones on Tuesday afternoon, just ahead of the 4 p.m. ET deadline for teams to decide on using their franchise or transition tags this year.

Jones, who started 13 games for Indianapolis in 2025 before tearing his Achilles tendon, played last season on a one-year, $14 million contract. The transition tag salary for quarterbacks in 2026 is $37.83 million. Jones can negotiate with other teams, but the Colts have the ability to match any offer he gets. 

Three other players have received the franchise tag, up from two last year:

• Colts QB Daniel Jones: $37.83 million (transition tag)
• Cowboys WR George Pickens: $27.3 million
• Falcons TE Kyle Pitts Sr.: $16.3 million
• Jets RB Breece Hall: $14.29 million

The franchise tag is more restrictive and expensive than the transition tag, as teams would have to give up two first-round draft picks to sign a player who was franchise tagged.

Jones is the first quarterback to receive the transition tag since the Falcons used it on Jeff George in 1996, and according to Spotrac, only 15 players in league history have been offered one. Jones’s NFL career earnings already stand at $122.83 million.

Cardinals Cutting Murray

The Cardinals informed quarterback Kyler Murray on Tuesday that they plan to release him before the new league year begins (March 11 at 4 p.m. ET).

Arizona already owes Murray $36.8 million in 2026, subject to offset language in his contract. That means another team could sign him for the league minimum for veterans of seven-plus years—$1.3 million—and the Cardinals would still have to pay the remaining $35.5 million.

“To everyone that supported me and showed kindness to my family and I during my time in AZ, from the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Murray, the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, wrote on social media. “I wanted nothing more than to be the one to end the 77 year drought for this organization, I am sorry I failed us. I wish this community and my brothers nothing but the best.”

The Cardinals hired new head coach Mike LaFleur this offseason, after firing Jonathan Gannon following three seasons in Arizona.