Good Morning. This is the Daily Breakroom. Today we’re covering NFL franchise tags and other free agents on the move. We might be longer than 5 min today, but we think the juice is worth the squeeze on this one.

Let’s get to it

Franchise Tag

We covered this a few weeks ago and it’s a good time for a refresher. Here are the two tags in the NFL that we’ll be discussing and it’s important to note that teams can only tag one player during the offseason.

• Non-exclusive: Teams must offer the selected player a one-year contract no less than the average of the top-five cap hits of that player’s positions or 120% of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. A player can negotiate with other teams and their current team will have the opportunity to match. If the team does not match, they will receive two first round draft picks in exchange.

• Exclusive: Teams must offer the selected player a one-year contract no less than either the average of the top-five salaries at that player’s position based on April of the current year or 120% of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. If a player doesn’t accept the offer, they can’t negotiate with other teams.

So… who’s been tagged?

Lamar Jackson

The biggest question of the offseason has been what are the Ravens doing with QB Lamar Jackson? Should they pay him a big contract similar to Deshaun Watson’s 5 year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract or do the Ravens tag Jackson. Placing the exclusive tag would come at a cost for $45 million for the year and the non-exclusive would cost $32 million.

So what happened? We’re glad you asked. The Ravens placed the non-exclusive tag on Jackson. Jackson has had some durability concerns over the last 2 seasons. He’s missed 10 games including post season action. As a QB who uses so much of his running talent, it’s hard for the Ravens to put all their metaphorical chips or literal dollars that hit the salary cap in a fully guaranteed contract with a player who will likely miss more games. Games that will probably be missed at the end of the season, including playoffs, due to the long grind and many hits that a running QB takes over 18+ weeks. The Ravens will continue the negotiation discussions they've been having for the last 25 months and until they figure something out, Lamar Jackson can speak with other teams.

The weird thing about Jackson speaking with other teams is… other teams don’t want to speak to him 😕? Hours after being tagged, it was learned that the Carolina Panthers, Washington Commanders, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, and the Miami Dolphins were not interested in pursing Jackson. Front offices don’t seem to want to set the precedent of fully guaranteeing QB money, especially ones that show they aren’t the most durable. Teams also don’t want to hand over two first round draft picks for a player who might leave them shorthanded in the postseason.

Check out this writeup on Fox Sports to see where else Lamar could land. The next few months will be interesting for Lamar and hopefully there is no season long holdout. We’ll keep you updated.

Let’s quickly run through some other tagged players.

Saquon Barkley

Barkley had durability issues for a few years but had a Pro Bowl season last year returning to his top form. The tag will cost $10 million and the New York Giants may be able secure Saquon on a long term deal, seeing as they just did the same with QB Daniel Jones(we’ll get to that later).

Tony Pollard

The Dallas Cowboys tagged RB Tony Pollard at a cost of $10 million. Tony Pollard has had more output than Zeke so it makes sense for the Cowboys to tag Pollard and try to work out a long term deal before July 15.

Josh Jacobs

The Las Vegas Raiders tagged the 2022 league leading rusher, Josh Jacobs. Jacobs wants a long term deal but it seems like the Raiders want to ensure he can generate this high output for at least another year before giving him a big deal. For 2023, Jacobs will get a $10 million salary

Evan Ingram

The Jacksonville Jaguars tagged their TE, Evan Ingram, who is practically a WR for the team. It’s reported the team wants to get a long term deal done but didn’t want to let him walk out the door and hit the open market. The tag is going to cost $11.5 million. Bonus points for Ingram…. he can block too!

Daron Payne

We love when a defensive player gets some action. The Washington Commanders didn’t want their DT duo getting split up with Payne hitting free agency. They’ll tie him up at $19 million as they work on a long term deal.

QB Free Agency News

Daniel Jones

Danny Dimes? More like Danny Dealz, Danny Digitz, or how about…. Danny Dollarz!!! Jones and the New York Giants have agreed to a 4 year $160 million deal.

Geno Smith

Geno balled out for the Seattle Seahawks this year and it’s paying off. He signed a 3 year, $105 million deal. He was the comeback player of the year in 2022. HIs deal includes loads of incentives where he is heavily betting on himself.

Derek Carr

Former Las Vegas Raiders QB Derek Carr has agreed to a four-year deal with the New Orleans Saints. The deal could be worth up to $150 million.

Let it be known that Daniel Jones only threw 15 touchdowns in 2022. Smith threw for 30 TDs and Carr threw 24. I guess Jones is really making out good with this deal.

Aaron Rodgers

We can’t forget about our modern day philosopher, I mean GB Packers QB, Aaron Rodgers. On Tuesday, New York Jets’ owner, GM, head coach, and OC flew to California to meet with Rodgers over a possible trade. There’s no news yet, but some Jets player are already making a push to get Rodgers on the squad.

Other Free Agency/ Off-Season News

We’ll do a quick rundown and then let you go:

• SF 49ers QB Brock Purdy will have surgery on his elbow Friday. Recovery is expected to be at least 6 months.

• Jaguars WR, Calvin Ridley is reinstated after a gambling suspension. Ridley will be a great weapon for Trevor Lawrence.

• LA Rams are looking to re-sign Baker Mayfield

• Tennessee Titans are looking to trade 29 year old beast of a RB, Derrick Henry

• Kansas City Chiefs released DE Frank Clark. He’s been a dominant force in playoffs but they couldn’t agree on extension terms.

If you haven’t been following any NFL free agency talk, this should be a great starter to get you through any conversation.

Thanks for reading and have a great Wednesday.

-The Daily Breakroom Team