Last year, several prominent offensive players received the franchise tag, which made the deadline day rather exciting. Lamar Jackson, Evan Engram, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard all got tagged, and there was -plenty to discuss about the short-term and long-term Fantasy value for each guy.
Jackson and Engram were eventually able to work out long-term contract extensions, Barkley and Jacobs agreed to one-year deals and Pollard played under the franchise tag in 2023. Now, on Tuesday's deadline day for the 2024 franchise tag, there isn't as much drama for our Fantasy stars.
Mike Evans agreed to a two-year, $52 million contract extension Monday, including $35 million guaranteed. Dalton Schultz agreed to a three-year, $36 million extension Tuesday, including $23.5 million guaranteed.
As for the franchise tag, the Bengals used their non-exclusive tag on Tee Higgins, and he's set to earn $21.8 million in 2024 unless he agrees to a contract extension. The Colts also used their non-exclusive tag on Michael Pittman, and he gets $21.8 million for 2024 as well, barring a long-term deal.
The Giants decided to not use the franchise tag on Barkley again, and he's set to hit free agency. He joins an impressive list of running backs on the market, including Jacobs, Pollard, Derrick Henry and Austin Ekeler.
We have time to look at the players on the free agent market, but today let's focus on Higgins and Pittman. They're staying put now that they got the franchise tag for 2024.
Tee Higgins
Higgins was limited to just 11 games in 2023 due to rib and hamstring injuries. He only appeared in four games with Joe Burrow last season where Higgins played more than 67 percent of the snaps, and in two of those games, Higgins scored at least 19 PPR points (Week 2 vs. BAL and Week 9 vs. BUF). For the season, Higgins finished with 42 catches for 656 yards and five touchdowns on 76 targets, and he averaged a career-low 11.1 PPR points per game. But we know he's capable of more, and he averaged 13.4 PPR points per game in 2022 and 15.2 PPR points in 2021. Hopefully, he'll stay healthy, as well as Burrow (he missed seven games with a wrist injury), and we get the best of Higgins in 2024. I wouldn't have been upset if he was a free agent and went to a new team where he could be the alpha receiver. That won't happen in Cincinnati because of Ja'Marr Chase. But Higgins can still be a standout Fantasy option with the Bengals, and he's worth drafting as early as Round 3 in all leagues.
Michael Pittman Jr.
It was expected that the Colts weren't going to let Pittman leave Indianapolis, and general manager Chris Ballard said at the NFL scouting combine that Pittman will be on the roster in 2024. I'm fine with Pittman's Fantasy value on the Colts, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in a full season with quarterback Anthony Richardson. We don't have a big sample size of Pittman playing with Richardson since he only appeared in four games in his rookie campaign. But Pittman did score 23 PPR points with Richardson in Week 1 last season with eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets. For the season, Pittman was fourth in the NFL among receivers with 109 catches, and he averaged 15.1 PPR points per game. Hopefully, he'll score more than four touchdowns, and he should still dominate targets. He had 156 targets in 2023, which was ninth among all players in the NFL. And his 30.5 percent target rate was fourth best in the league. As long as he can develop a quality rapport with Richardson, Pittman should remain a borderline No. 1 Fantasy receiver in all leagues. He's worth drafting as early as Round 3.
