What to Know With Key Franchise Tag Deadline Officially a Week Away

With the July 15 deadline to sign a multi-year extension just a week away, here are some key points to remember.

In exactly one week, every NFL player who is currently franchise tagged but is still seeking a long-term deal in 2020 will face a key deadline. Included in that group is Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, along with a number of other star players such as Chris Jones, Justin Simmons, Shaq Barrett and A.J. Green.

Why is July 15 so important for the Jaguars and the other clubs who are currently working through similar situations with their own players and the franchise tag? For those five teams, and players, it represents the final chance to come to a long-term solution before the 2020 season begins. 

With the July 15 deadline now a week away, here are a few facts to know as it pertains to Ngakoue, the Jaguars and the rest of the league. 

At 4 p.m. EST on July 15, any player who is currently under the franchise tag, which was placed on each of the players in recent months, must be signed to a multiyear contract or extension with a team or else play on the franchise tag for the year. 

Here is the exact wording the NFL uses on its operations calendar: 

"At 4:00 p.m., New York time, deadline for any club that designated a Franchise Player to sign such player to a multiyear contract or extension. After this date, the player may sign only a one-year contract with his prior club for the 2020 season, and such contract cannot be extended until after the club’s last regular season game. "

Essentially, Ngakoue and the other tagged players will have to either have a new deal in place of the franchise tag by the deadline or else they have to play on the somewhat unpopular one-year tender. For players like Ngakoue, who have been harping on the desire for a long-term contract, this is their last chance to get a long-term deal before the next season actually takes place.

If Ngakoue does sign the tender instead of a multiyear deal, he will be on a one-year deal and be guaranteed $17,788,000 in 2020, which would be the highest cap hit on the Jaguars' roster and the fourth-highest cap hit among all defensive ends.

Why is this deadline so important for both teams and players? For players, it means the final opportunity to land a safer long-term agreement instead of having to play on a one-year tender that, while high in salary, is low in secuity. 

"I'm gonna play off the tag [if] I got to but I do want that long-term deal. It's all about security for me and my family; that's all I've been fighting for my whole time in the NFL," Barrett told NFL Network in March. "Even a franchise tag, I'm still getting the security too but I just want a long contract and long-term security."

For teams, July 15 means they will have clarity on the short-term outlook of their tagged players, in the event they keep the players. In some cases, teams franchise tag players but keep open to the possibilities of trading them to another team. The most notable recent example is when the Houston Texans traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks last season, though it needs to be noted the context of the trade.

The Clowney trade occurred following the July contract deadline, meaning any team that traded for Clowney would be trading for a player who was essentially a one-year rental. In comparison, a team that traded for Clowney before July 15 would have been able to sign him to a long-term contract. 

Because of this, it makes much more sense to trade a franchise tagged player before next week's deadline. Ngakoue specifically has been seeking a trade this offseason, but if one doesn't take place in the next week, it may be hard to envision one happening in 2020 because the Jaguars would simply not get great value. 

Considering Ngakoue has already stated he does not want to sign a long-term deal with the Jaguars, this makes next week's deadline an even more pressing eventual impasse.

Tired of the back and forth @Jaguars. Let’s get this shit done.

— Yannick Ngakoue (@YannickNgakoue) April 20, 2020

For context on what post-July 15 trade value may look like, just look at the three examples from last year's offseason. In addition to Clowney, Seattle Seahawks edge defender Frank Clark and Kansas City Chiefs edge defender Dee Ford were also tagged before being traded. The only difference is each of those players were traded before the July deadline and the teams trading for them were able to ink them to long-term contracts, hence increasing the compensation for the Seahawks and Chiefs.

Because the Texans failed to find a trade partner for Clowney by the deadline, they received poor value for a player who otherwise could have netted them a first-round pick.

For context, here is the compensation the three different teams got. 

• Texans' haul for Clowney (traded on Aug. 31): OLB Jacob Martin, OLB Barkevious Mingo, and a third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
• Chiefs' haul for Ford (traded on March 12): Second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
• Seahawks' haul for Clark (traded on April 23): First- and third-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft and a second-round pick in 2020.

If Ngakoue or any of the other four players do not sign a long-term deal by July 15, they will have to make the choice to either sign the franchise tag tender or sit out the season, something Jones has already floated the possibility of. 

Or I won’t play. @LeVeonBell told me about this

— Chris Jones (@StoneColdJones) July 1, 2020

The deadline for players under contract to report to their clubs to earn an accrued season for free agency is currently Aug. 11, though that could always change due to the changing NFL schedule.

Next Wednesday's deadline does not mean there will be an official end to the Ngakoue saga in Jacksonville or to any of the other situations throughout the league. It simply means that the options for both parties, the players and the teams, greatly dwindle once the deadline passes by. 

It remains to be seen which of the five free agents could potentially have a new contract in place by next Wednesday, but it isn't unreasonable to think there is little momentum toward Ngakoue signing a deal with Jacksonville. Ngakoue would clearly rather sign a long-term deal elsewhere than play on any deal in Jacksonville, but that option will disappear in exactly seven days.