NFL free agency officially opens March 12th; recently, we’ve started to see teams shape up their direction for the offseason by making decisions on pending free agents. The headliners so far are the Chiefs placing the franchise tag on Pro Bowl guard Trey Smith, the Bengals tagging WR Tee Higgins for the second consecutive year, and the Raiders re-signing Maxx Crosby, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
What do these decisions mean for the rest of the NFL? Well, in Smith’s and Higgins’ case, it likely means they will remain with their respective teams, barring a trade. Both Smith and Higgins were set to be top free agents looking for a big payday; now, teams must look elsewhere to fill their needs at guard and receiver. The Raiders’ resigning Crosby was a must, with him being their best player. However, this extension doesn’t impact other teams as Crosby wasn’t set to become a free agent.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS PLACE THE NON-EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE TAG ON OFFENSIVE GUARD TREY SMITH, SIGNING HIM TO A 1-YEAR, 23.4 MILLION DOLLAR DEAL.
Most people felt that Smith would walk into free agency instead of signing a long-term deal with the Chiefs. Instead of letting one of their best O-lineman walk into free agency, Kansas City decided to place the non-exclusive franchise tag on their guard; this means teams can still sign Smith to their team, but not before KC has the option to match that offer, and in the case they chose to decline, the Chiefs would receive two first round picks from whichever team choses to sign him. This decision likely means we will see the Chiefs sign Smith to a long-term deal later this year, or this will turn into a tag and trade scenario, where Kansas City will find a trade partner before the draft. What does this mean for KC? It means they have control over what they want to do as far as their offensive line goes. They can sign Smith long term, they can let him play on the tag and kick the can down the road and solve the issue next off-season, or they could trade him and receive draft compensation in return, like they did with Pro Bowl cornerback L’Jarius Sneed last year.
BENGALS PLACE FRANCHISE TAG ON WR TEE HIGGINS, GIVING HIM UP TO 26.2 MILLION IN 2025
The Bengals have placed the exclusive tag on Higgins for the second year in a row. This comes in response to their star QB Joe Burrow expressing his strong desire for the team to be able to keep their core set of guys together; Higgins being one of them. The talk around the receiver has been murky, the player has expressed his strong desire for a long-term extension, which the Bengals have yet to give him. Burrow’s big, bodied target responded to the decision on social media with a cryptic one-word message: “Tag.” The Bengals face a tricky off-season, with multiple of their top players going into the last year of their deals – those players being all-pro receiver Ja’marr Chase, and edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who led the league in sacks with 17.5 this past season. It will be interesting to see how the Bengals deal with the Higgins situation. he clearly wants an extension, and being tagged again hasn’t made him very happy; don’t be shocked if you see some big decisions made by Cincinnati this off-season.
LV RAIDERS RESIGN MAXX CROSBY TO A 3-YEAR, 106.5 MILLION DOLLAR DEAL
For the last 5 years, the Raiders have been nothing short of a dumpster fire. One of their only bright spots is their all-pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby. Over the past few seasons, Crosby has solidified himself as one of the NFL’s most dominant defensive players. While the Raiders have a plethora of positions to fill on their roster, priority number 1 had to be to retain Crosby. The Raiders have now done that, signing Crosby to a 3-year, 106.5-million-dollar deal with 91.5 million guaranteed – this makes Crosby the highest non-QB in NFL history. Despite the whopping contract, the Raiders still have a ton of cap space to play with during free agency and in the days leading up to the draft, just over 95 million to be specific. While they are a couple of years from being able to truly compete, the Raiders can put together a much-improved roster due to a strong upcoming free agent class. Look for them to address needs at wide receiver and cornerback – great signings for these positions could be the likes of Hollywood brown or Chris Godwin at receiver, and a Charvarius Ward or Asante Samuel Jr at cornerback.