Some years, July 15 can be an important date on the NFL calendar. Not so much in 2026
Today is the deadline for franchise-tagged players to enter into multi-year pacts. If no deal is reached by the 4 p.m. ET deadline, the player(s) must play out the campaign on a one-year tender
This year, there isn’t a lot of action to be spurred at the deadline
Four players received a tag this season. Daniel Jones received the transition tag, and Breece Hall, Kyle Pitts and George Pickens the franchise tender. The first three signed extensions. Jones signed a two-year $88 million contract while coming off Achilles surgery. Hall inked a three-year $43.5 million pact. And Pitts signed a three-year, $54 million contract to remain in Atlanta
That leaves Pickens as the only tagged player left without an extension
Most years, we’d spend the day wondering whether the wideout would get that long-term deal. However, the Cowboys have already said they wouldn’t extend Pickens this year, preferring to let him play out the $27.3 million franchise tag and do this dance again in 2027. Pickens has accepted that stance and participated in mandatory minicamp last month. There have been zero signs he intends to skip training camp — he could have just not signed the tender until the start of the season if he didn’t want to attend.
After the July 15 deadline, clubs can tweak a player’s one-year tender by adding more money, but the length of the pact must remain a single campaign — we famously saw this with the New York Giants and Saquon Barkley in 2023. There haven’t been any indications that Pickens is attempting to squeeze any more dinero out of Dallas
And so, our mid-July deadline is quiet in 2026
