Receivers Godwin, Robinson top franchise tag list
The big money that accompanies franchise tags for the 2021 season is going to receivers, safeties and linemen.
No running backs. No tight ends. No linebackers. And, with Dak Prescott reaching agreement with the Dallas Cowboys on a new four-year deal, no quarterbacks.
So wideouts Chris Godwin, who helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl, and Chicago’s Allen Robinson were tagged just before Tuesday’s NFL deadline. So were tackles Taylor Moton of Carolina and Cam Robinson of Jacksonville, defensive tackle Leonard Williams of the New York Giants, and safety Marcus Williams of New Orleans.
Previously announced as tagged players were safeties Marcus Maye of the New York Jets and Justin Simmons of the Denver Broncos, and all-pro guard Brandon Scherff by Washington.
While none of them is in line for the $160 million, four-year contract – with a record $66 million signing bonus – that Prescott got, they all will bring home hefty paychecks.
Leonard Williams, Scherff and Simmons were tagged for a second straight year.
Barring their teams working out long-term deals by July 15, they will earn about $19 million, $18 million and $13.7 million, respectively.
Godwin, a budding star with the Buccaneers – so much so that the team apparently will allow top linebackers Shaq
Barrett and Lavonte David to test the open waters – and the veteran Allen Robinson will be paid approximately $16.4 million apiece in 2021.
The going rate for safeties under their first tag is around $10.5 million, which Maye and Marcus Williams will make in New Jersey.
Moton and Cam Robinson will come in at about $14 million.
The 2021 salary cap has not been set yet, but it will decrease from $198.2 million to between $180 and $185 million due to lost revenues for the league during the coronavirus-impacted 2020 season. It is the first decrease in the cap.
Vikings cut Bailey: The Minnesota Vikings cleared more salary cap space by cutting kicker Dan Bailey on Tuesday, keeping their carousel of specialists spinning for yet another season.
Bailey ranked last in the league in 2020 in field goals (68.2 percent) and extra points (86.0 percent), among kickers who appeared in 10 or more games. Both of those were career lows, by far. The 10-year veteran missed five field goals and five extra points over the final five games, putting his job in jeopardy.
The move provides the Vikings a $1.7 million savings on their cap this season. They’ll carry a dead money charge of $2.1 million, for the remaining prorated portions of the signing bonus they gave Bailey a year ago.
There were two seasons left on that deal.