12:14pm: A tag will happen if the sides cannot agree on a long-term deal, but NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe notes the sides still plan to negotiate ahead of Tuesday’s deadline (Twitter link). Teams have until 3pm CT Tuesday to apply tags to players.
11:40am: The second of this year’s franchise tags is coming out. After the Commanders cuffed Daron Payne, the Jaguars intend to tag Evan Engram, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
This is a logical choice, with the tight end tag being the third-lowest figure this year. It will cost the Jags $11.35MM to give Engram the one-year tender/placeholder. Engram has said he wants to stay in Jacksonville, and the Jaguars are optimistic they will be able to hammer out a deal. This move buys them time. They will have until July 15 to work out an extension with Engram, who is going into his age-29 season.
Jacksonville had until March 7 to fire off this transaction. Although GM Trent Baalke said right tackle Jawaan Taylor was also a tag candidate, that move never added up compared to the Engram call. It would have cost the Jags $18.2MM to tag Taylor. Considering Cam Robinson is signed to a top-eight left tackle contract, putting that number on the payroll would have been challenging for the team.
For Engram, this cements a midcareer breakthrough effort. Having languished on mostly poor Giants offenses during his first five seasons, Engram signed a one-year, $9MM pact with the Jags in March 2022. The “prove it” deal paid off for both parties. Engram ended the season with a Jags tight end-record 766 receiving yards, and he continued his production in the playoffs to help the team to the divisional round.
While a host of players have been tagged in the season following their fifth-year option campaign, Engram is the rare player to be tagged two years after his option year. The 2017 first-rounder played out his option year in New York. This tag, which could well lead to a long-term deal, will mean the Ole Miss product will have collected more than $26MM over the past three seasons. Not bad for a tight end who has battled injuries and inconsistency. Ahead of his one-year Jags pact, Engram totaled just 408 yards in 15 Giants games.
It would behoove the Jags to work out a long-term accord with Engram. Their pass catcher payroll is filling up. They now have an Engram tag and Calvin Ridley‘s fifth-year option ($10.9MM) on the books. Both Christian Kirk and Zay Jones are on veteran contracts — $18MM and $8MM per year,…