Eagles opt not to franchise-tag C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Javon Hargrave as deadline passes

As expected, the Eagles let Tuesday’s franchise and transition tag deadline pass without locking down any of their key free agents to an expensive one-year deal.

There were a few candidates for the franchise tag, which keeps a player on the roster for one year making the average of the five highest-paid players at their position. The Eagles will go into free agency with limited cap space to work with and a potential contract extension for Jalen Hurts looming and, as a result, didn’t view the franchise tag as an option.

Javon Hargrave, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and James Bradberry, the main candidates, will have a chance to sign long-term deals with yearly earnings close to what the tag would have netted them when free agency opens on March 13.

The Eagles will inevitably lose at least one or two of them. There’s even a chance all three players could sign elsewhere after having career years with the Eagles in 2022.

According to overthecap.com, the tag number for defensive tackles was around $18.9 million, with safeties projected to get $14.4 million and corners at $18.1 million. For reference, Pro Football Focus projects Hargrave will get right around $18 million and predicts multi-year deals worth roughly $12 million for both Gardner-Johnson and Bradberry.

The Eagles currently have just $3.8 million in salary cap space, according to overthecap.com, but they get to around $39 million in space by restructuring the deals of Darius Slay and Lane Johnson. Doing so would push some of their 2022 cap hits into future years, but clear immediate space.

During a news conference at the NFL scouting combine last Tuesday, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman tried to reset expectations for the upcoming free agency period.

“Are we going to get all the free agents back? We’re just not,” Roseman said. “We’re not capable of getting all those guys back, but we also understand we’re in a good situation in terms of picks that we have going forward. We have a lot of guys under contract, not only for this year, but going forward. We’re not going to make excuses for the position we’re in.”

Free agency is less than a week away. The Eagles have nearly two dozen players set to hit the market and will have to prioritize which guys to aggressively pursue. The list of upcoming free agents includes Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, T.J. Edwards, Kyzir White, Marcus Epps, Isaac Seumalo, and Miles Sanders.

Across the division, the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and Washington Commanders made noteworthy moves. The Giants used the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley and signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract extension just before the tag deadline. The Cowboys used the franchise tag on running back Tony Pollard and the Commanders tagged defensive tackle Daron Payne.