{"id":1160075,"date":"2026-02-17T11:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/?p=1160075"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:40:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:40:39","slug":"nfl-franchise-tag-window-open-2-colts-players-are-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/nfl-franchise-tag-window-open-2-colts-players-are-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL franchise tag window open: 2 Colts players are candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The window for the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> to utilize the franchise tag is now open. It runs from Feb. 17th through March 3rd, and there are two players who could receive the tag.<\/p>\n

How does the franchise tag work?<\/h2>\n

Each team has the ability to use the franchise tag on one of their pending free agents each offseason.<\/p>\n

If applied, a franchise tag is essentially a one-year deal. The contract amount is predetermined and takes into account which position the tagged player plays.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Over the Cap<\/a>, “franchise tag figures are based upon the top five salaries at each respective position.”<\/p>\n

Which players could the Colts<\/a> use the franchise tag on?<\/h2>\n

Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce are the two franchise tag candidates for the Colts. <\/p>\n

With either of these players, the goal of using the franchise tag isn’t to have Jones or Pierce playout the 2026 season on that deal. For one, that is not a salary-cap-friendly option for the Colts, and both players want long-term deals.<\/p>\n

But what using the tag does accomplish is that it keeps the tagged player from hitting free agency, which then provides him and the Colts a longer negotiating window.<\/p>\n

We saw the Colts use this tactic in 2024 with Michael Pittman. A little over a week after the tag was applied, the two agreed upon a contract extension.<\/p>\n

According to CBS Sports Jonathan Jones<\/a>, the Colts are “destined” to use the franchise tag this offseason, and Jones is the “priority.”<\/p>\n

What are the 2026 franchise tag amounts?<\/h2>\n

With help from Over the Cap, here is a positional breakdown of the 2026 franchise tag figures:<\/p>\n

QB: $47.32MWR: $28.82MLB: $28.19MOL: $27.92MDE: $27.32MDT: $26.31MCB: $21.41MS: $20.87MTE: $16.31MRB: $14.5MST: $6.9M<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Colts’ Alec Pierce, Daniel Jones franchise tag candidates<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/nfl-franchise-tag-window-open-114039461.html<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The window for the Indianapolis Colts to utilize the franchise tag is now open. It runs from Feb. 17th through March 3rd, and there are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1160075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1160075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1160075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1160075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1160075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}