March 06, 2024
Last offseason, each of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Washington Commanders used their franchise tags. The Cowboys and Giants both tagged their starting running backs, Tony Pollard and Saquon Barkley, while the Commanders tagged DT Daron Payne.
This year, none of the NFC East teams used their tag, and the Cowboys and Giants will likely be losing good players.
The Cowboys have five noteworthy players who could be on their way out of Dallas.
• LT Tyron Smith: Smith had a rare healthy season in 2023, at least by his standards. After missing 13 games in 2022, 6 games in 2021, and 14 games in 2020, Smith only missed four games in 2023, and he played well. According to Ian Rapoport, Smith is likely a goner.
End of an era: #Cowboys All-Pro and Pro Bowl LT Tyron Smith will be a free agent and is unlikely to return to Dallas, sources say. The blindside protector since 2011, Smith will be highly coveted. pic.twitter.com/eiTolVeFw6
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 2, 2024
• RB Tony Pollard: As noted above Pollard got franchise tagged last year, and he turned in a disappointing season as the lead back, averaging 3.99 yards per carry and 5.7 yards per catch.
• CB Stephon Gilmore: Gilmore played well for the Cowboys last season at the age of 33. The Cowboys lost Trevon Diggs for the season with a torn ACL, and DaRon Bland stepped up in his place, becoming a star player. With Diggs and Bland returning, Gilmore will probably cost too much to bring back as a CB3.
• S Jayron Kearse: Starting safety who has become good in coverage on the back end.
• C Tyler Biadasz: Just a guy, but a starting center. If they lose him, they'll still have to replace him.
They're currently $10,603,247 over the cap, and will have to be cap compliant by Wednesday. Dak Prescott currently counts for $59,455,000 on the 2024 cap, so a contract extension or restructure for him is likely.
The Giants could be losing their second-best player on offense and their second-best player on defense.
• RB Saquon Barkley: The Giants tagged Barkley last offseason to Barkley's dismay. He still showed up for training camp anyway and played the good soldier. Barkley will be looking to break the bank this offseason, though he might be disappointed once again.
There were games in 2023 where the Giants' offense was so bad that they just gave the ball to Barkley over and over. In 14 games, he carried 247 times for 962 yards and 6 TDs, with a yards per carry average of 3.89. While 3.89 yards per carry isn't good, it was a hell of a lot better than all the other Giants' backs, none of whom rushed for better than 2.82 yards per carry.
• S Xavier McKinney: McKinney is one of the best safeties in the NFL. In 2023, he had 116 tackles, 11 pass breakups, and 3 INTs, and he's still only 24 years old. He's been in the league for 4 seasons, and some of the prospects that will be drafted in April are older than him.
It was a curious decision for the Giants not to tag McKinney, seeing as, you know, they don't have many good players. It's a lot easier to open up cap space than it is to find good players, and they might regret losing him.
On a side note, the Eagles need a starting safety, and there's a chance they'll be shopping at the top of the market for one. It's perhaps worth noting that Jalen Hurts is good friends with McKinney from their time together at Alabama.
The Commanders have a small handful of decent players who will hit the open market, like CB Kendall Fuller, S Kamren Curl, and LT Charles Leno, but no stars. They'll be interesting to watch in free agency, as the lead the NFL with $91,542,471 in cap space, per OverTheCap. They also have the No. 2 overall pick in the draft.
The Commanders finished dead last for the second consecutive season in the NFLPA's report cards:
It's going to take a while to get the Dan Snyder stink off of that organization. They may have to wildly overpay guys to get them to come to Washington.
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