Breece Hall, George Pickens Lead List of High Profile Players Slapped With Franchise Tag

It remains unclear if the Jets running back and Cowboys wide receiver will play under the tag or if they will continue to seek a long term contract with their respective teams.

Dec 28, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets running back Breece Hall (20) carries the ball as New England Patriots linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson (44) pursues at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Before NFL Free Agency starts next week (March 11), teams were able to place the franchise tag on players they wanted to retain and prevent other teams from luring them away with new contracts. A hanful of big name players that come with major implications in fantasy football were tagged by their respective organizations. Here's the list of high-profile players that were tagged and expected to remain with their current team for the 2026 season.

RB Breece Hall, New York Jets

In a move that was rumored but not assured, the New York Jets have franchise-tagged Breece Hall before the March 3 deadline. The tag allows them to negotiate a long-term deal or trade his rights up until July 15. If the two sides have not worked anything out by the July 15 deadline, he will be playing for the Jets in 2026 on a one-year deal worth $14.293 million. 

While this move does help the Jets retain one of their most talented offensive weapons, it's a curious choice with 2026 likely being a lost season, and New York underutilizing him in 2025. Hopefully, for the sake of both Hall and his fantasy owners, he can find a way to escape the Jets franchise, but it looks like they aren't going to let him walk away easily. 

The incompetence of the Jets' franchise and their bumbling coaching staff have greatly suppressed Hall's upside and potential. In the right offense, Hall has fantasy RB1 overall upside. 

Unfortunately, he'll never come close to reaching those heights as long as he's mired in the dumpster fire set by Woody Johnson and Aaron Glenn. For Hall, the worst-case scenario would be if he did end up signing a long-term deal, and the best case is if the Jets end up trading him to another team, where he can get a fair shot to be successful on a team run by competent adults.

Dec 25, 2025; Landover, Maryland, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens (3) celebrates after a play against the Washington Commanders during the first half at Northwest Stadium. | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

WR George Pickens, Dallas Cowboys

In a move that most people expected, the Dallas Cowboys franchise tagged Pickens. Financially, they couldn't afford to sign him to a long-term deal, but clearly didn't want to lose him. That doesn't mean that they couldn't make room for him, but a deal wasn't getting done before March 3. As we saw last season, this is obviously fantastic for Pickens' fantasy value. 

TE Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons

Pitts broke back out this season with the best fantasy season of his career, and by far his best season since his rookie year. It makes a ton of sense to franchise tag him, rather than pay him coming off his best season when he's never been more expensive. They will likely let him play out the year and make sure he can have success consistently.

QB Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts

Dec 7, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) looks to throw downfield against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the first half at EverBank Stadium. | Travis Register-Imagn Images

Jones was slapped with the transition tag rather than the franchise tag. While the tag does save Indianapolis money if he signs it, it also allows other teams to negotiate with Jones, but also gives the Colts the right of first refusal to match any offer sheet from another team. His transition tag is worth $37.833.