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Tag window opens Tuesday with eyes on Cowboys, Seahawks

NFL: Pro Bowl Games-NFC PracticeFeb 2, 2026; San Francisco, CA, USA; Dallas Cowboys receiver George Pickens during NFC practice at the NFL Flag Fieldhouse at Moscone Center South Building. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The window for NFL teams to utilize the franchise and transition tag opens Tuesday.

The transaction in place for teams to retain their own free agents can be applied through March 3 at 4 p.m. ET.

There’s rarely a race to apply the tag as general managers and agents use the formal meeting settings around the NFL Scouting Combine to exchange expectations and, in many cases, find a middle ground to move forward in negotiations toward a long-term deal.

In some cases, that won’t happen.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens is projected to be tagged, but Seahawks general manager John Schneider seems less likely to use Seattle’s to keep running back Kenneth Walker III.

A non-exclusive franchise tag guarantees a player a one-year salary calculated at the average of the top five salaries over the past five seasons at that player’s position. Because it is “non-exclusive,” a player can still meet with and negotiate a deal with any other team. However, the original team holds refusal rights and can match incoming offers to that player or choose to receive two first-round picks as compensation from the suitor.

There is an “exclusive” franchise tag. The differences are in salary — the top five salaries at the player’s position for the current year or 120 percent of the player’s previous-year salary — and prohibited negotiations with other teams.

Walker, MVP of Super Bowl LX, could become a candidate for the transition tag. The one-year tender offer for the average of the top 10 salaries at the position — gives the current team some semblance of leverage with refusal rights. A team can match incoming offers to the tagged player while lowering the initial potential terms of the one-year contract. However, this tag prevents the club from receiving draft compensation if it elects to not match another team’s offer.

Franchise tag values vary greatly by position value and market, but also take into account the annual salary-cap adjustment. The NFL salary cap has not officially been set.

Two players were tagged in 2025 and wound up signing long-term contracts before the NFL’s July 15 deadline to replace the franchise tag tender with a multi-year deal.

Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (four years, $115 million) and Chiefs guard Trey Smith (four years, $94 million) were locked up by the teams that drafted them before the 2025 season began.

Seattle has a projected $63 million in cap space but Schneider was mindful of coming negotiations with future free agents when discussing spending prior to Super Bowl LX.

The Cowboys acquired Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers prior to the final year of his four-year, $6.7 million rookie contract. Pickens is projected to rake in approximately $28 million in 2026 based on franchise tag projections.

That’s about double the going rate for franchise-tagging a running back. Based on 2025 salaries, the running back non-exclusive tag would pay in the neighborhood of $14.1 million on a one-year deal.

–Field Level Media

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BetBoom Team captures PGL Wallachia Season 8 over Aurora Gaming

BetBoom Team swept Aurora Gaming 3-0 on Sunday to win the grand final and the $300,000 top prize of the PGL Wallachia Season 8 event at Bucharest, Romania.

It was a rematch of Saturday’s upper-bracket final that BetBoom Team won 2-1.

To reach the grand final, Aurora needed to beat Team Falcons earlier Sunday in the lower-bracket final. Aurora pulled off the 2-0 win to advance to the best-of-five grand final.

Sixteen teams began the $1 million Dota 2 tournament with the top eight advancing from the Swiss-system group stage. The double-elimination playoffs continued with all matches best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Sunday.

BetBoom Team opened the grand final with a challenging 62-minute victory on green, then followed with a 42-minute triumph on red. They wrapped up the championship by winning again on green, this time in 49 minutes.

Russian Danil “gpk~” Skutin guided BetBoom with a 32-2-48 kill-death-assist ratio over three games. Russia’s Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov aided BetBoom with a 32-9-33 K-D-A ratio.

Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko of Russia posted a 9-15-21 K-D-A ratio to pace Aurora Gaming. Indonesia’s Rafli “Mikoto” Fathur Rahman finished at 14-17-15.

PGL Wallachia Season 8 prize pool:

1. $300,000 — BetBoom Team

2. $175,000 — Aurora Gaming

3. $120,000 — Team Falcons

4. $80,000 — Team Liquid

5-6. $60,000 — South America Rejects, PARIVISION

7-8. $40,000 — HEROIC, Team Spirit

9-11. $20,000 — GamerLegion, Xtreme Gaming, MOUZ

12-14. $15,000 — Vici Gaming, Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere

15-16. $10,000 — Team Yandex, Tundra Esports

–Field Level Media

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Oilers not saying if Tristan Jarry or Connor Ingram will man net in Game 4

NHL: Edmonton Oilers at Utah MammothApr 7, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Edmonton Oilers goaltender Tristan Jarry (35) blocks a shot by the Utah Mammoth during the third period at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Connor Ingram served as the Edmonton Oilers’ goaltender for the first three games of their Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks.

But with the higher-seeded Oilers trailing 2-1 in this best-of-seven set heading into Game 4 in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday night, might head coach Kris Knoblauch change goalies? Backup Tristan Jarry spent practice on Saturday in the net typically used by the next game’s starter, but Knoblauch said Saturday that wasn’t necessarily a tell.

“We haven’t decided,” Knoblauch said. “I think going in (to this series), we were pretty sure (about our No. 1). And it was the same thing last year, and maybe the year before. Today in the NHL, very rarely do you have one goalie play all the games in the playoffs.”

He continued: “Twenty years ago and before that, it was unheard-of to be swapping goalies. But we’ve got two good goalies. We feel confident they can both play. And going into the playoffs, we felt there was going to be a time where we’re going to have to make a switch at some time. Whether that’s for Game 4 or Game 5 or whatever it is, we have confidence in both of them.”

Ingram, 29, who posted a 16-10-3 record with a 2.60 goals-against average and .899 save percentage in 32 regular-season games, has been less effective during the postseason. In the wake of Friday’s 7-4 win by the Ducks, Ingram has surrendered a league-high 14 goals and enters Game 4 with a 4.70 GAA and .849 save percentage.

Jarry, who turns 31 this week, was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 12. He fashioned a 9-6-2 record with a 3.86 GAA and .858 save percentage in 19 appearances for the Oilers. He has not started a game since April 7 — a 6-5 overtime loss at Utah — and has not played since handling the final 20 minutes on April 8 in a 5-2 win against San Jose.

If Jarry gets the Game 4 nod, it will mark his first Stanley Cup playoff appearance since a 4-3 overtime loss by the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Rangers on May 15, 2022.

Jarry started eight postseason games for the Penguins from 2020-22 and produced a 2-6 record with a 3.00 GAA and .891 save percentage.

–Field Level Media

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Three Teams That Screwed Up 2026 NFL Draft

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ first-round pick, Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter, left, answers questions as General Manager James Gladstone, right, sits next to him during a press conference Friday, March 25, 2025 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]The Jacksonville Jaguars’ first-round pick, Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter, left, answers questions as General Manager James Gladstone, right, sits next to him during a press conference Friday, March 25, 2025 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]

Not every team can take home a prized draft pick, especially if they are throwing darts nowhere near the top of the board.

We can’t say enough great things about the Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets and their stadium co-tenants, the Giants. From top to bottom, there’s a lot to love about the Panthers’ draft, too.

But we have no worldly idea what a few other teams were thinking over the three-day NFL draft completed Saturday in Pittsburgh.

Jacksonville Jaguars

From all splash and sizzle in 2025 to … what-was-that vibes in 2026, maybe this is life with a 30-something general manager. We can’t say Travis Hunter, which cost Jacksonville a 2026 first-round pick in the deal with the Browns on draft night ’25, was a home run. Or even an infield single. And now we can’t say much at all about what the Jaguars did in this draft. The franchise is drafting “culture” and we’re anxious to find out how that computes year over year.

San Francisco 49ers

Dec 14, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) prepares to pass the ball during the first quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn ImagesDec 14, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) prepares to pass the ball during the first quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

A jumbo receiver who would’ve been on the board 20 picks later De’Zhaun Stribling (Ole Miss) wasn’t entirely unexpected. But the 49ers signed Mike Evans and 2025 first-rounder Ricky Pearsall is being panned as a lead receiver. If these things compute internally, what’s the reward with Stribling? This isn’t a division where drafting depth over difference-makers can be a survival mode. Indiana RB Kaelon Black also would’ve been on the board later and he’s a niche player at best as long as the 49ers have the McCaffrey guy. So two of the top three picks are bit players in a division where everyone north of Arizona will be hyper competitive.

Atlanta Falcons

Jan 4, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich on the sideline against the New Orleans Saints in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn ImagesJan 4, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich on the sideline against the New Orleans Saints in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell brings immediate value and it’s fair to wonder if the Falcons are having buyer’s remorse over the trade of a first-round pick for James Pearce Jr. in 2025 given his off-field issues. The draft wasn’t deep enough to find high-end pass rushers or offensive tackles in the late rounds. Using their third draft pick this year on Kendal Daniels (Oklahoma) at No. 134 is evidence the Falcons are hoping to hit the lottery on upside. Where Daniels fits in this defense is nowhere near clear at the moment.

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