A.J. Brown, David Bailey, and Football Coming Back to Life in Lincoln

NFLPhiladelphiaDallasGreen Bay

Philadelphia Expected to Tag A.J. Brown. Dallas Expected to Tag George Pickens. The Tag Deadline Should Resolve Both Big Situations.

Both sides expected to act before Tuesday's 4 p.m. deadline. Two of the league's most contentious receiver situations should become extension negotiations waiting to happen.

The NFL franchise tag deadline arrives Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, and the roster picture heading into free agency is about to become materially clearer. Several of the high-profile situations that have dominated the past two weeks appear close to resolution, and the outcomes will define how the March 11 opening of the market shapes up.

Philadelphia is expected to tag A.J. Brown. The decision appeared inevitable by Sunday evening, when it became clear the two sides had not closed the gap on long-term extension talks. Brown would become a one-year player at the receiver franchise number, and the relationship between him and the organization will be tested by proximity and contract leverage simultaneously. The Eagles front office has maintained that it wants to sign Brown long-term; Brown's camp will be looking for evidence that the number reflects that intent. If extension talks stall into training camp, this situation becomes one of the louder offseason storylines in the league.

Dallas is expected to apply the tag to George Pickens. The Cowboys have been deliberate and quiet about their intentions — no public commentary from either side, which is either a good sign (both parties have agreed to negotiate privately) or a bad sign (both parties have agreed to avoid embarrassing each other while the disagreement continues). Dallas's cap situation is tight enough that signing him to a long-term deal at market value will require moving money around.

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The NotebookBusiness & Process

NFLPhiladelphia

The Notebook: The A.J. Brown Situation Is a Business Story First

The tension in Philadelphia isn't personal — it's mathematics. What the Eagles front office is actually deciding before Tuesday's deadline.

The A.J. Brown situation in Philadelphia is the most interesting front-office story in football right now, and I want to take a minute to explain why — not just the drama of it, but the business logic underneath it. What makes it interesting isn't that a star player and his team have disagreements. That happens everywhere, every offseason. What makes it interesting is the timing, the leverage, and the way the franchise tag changes both.

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From the TrenchesFilm Room

NFL

From the Trenches: Forget David Bailey's Forty Time. Go Watch His Hands.

The top defensive prospect in the draft has a refined hand counter that most college players never develop. The tape shows it. The measurements only confirm it.

Forget the forty time. I know everyone wants to talk about the forty time. David Bailey ran a 4.50 at this combine at 6-3, 260 pounds, and yes, that's a real number for a player his size, and yes, it matters. But the forty tells you one thing: straight-line first-step speed. It does not tell you whether a player can turn the corner on an NFL tackle, whether his pass rush moves hold up when a right tackle gives him a firm set and takes away the speed path, or whether he's a two-down specialist or an every-down disruptor.

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First & TenThe Joy of the Game

NFLLincoln

First and Ten: Football Came Back to Life in Lincoln on Saturday Morning

Nebraska opened spring practice. A freshman lined up against upperclassmen for the first time. The combine numbers went quiet. Football was just football again.

Nebraska opened spring practice Saturday, and let me tell you why that matters more than it sounds like it does. Football went away. It went away after the bowl games and the championship game and the portal frenzy, and then there were weeks of combine numbers and draft projections and contract disputes and all the things that are about football without actually being football. And now, in Lincoln, Nebraska on a cold late-February morning, someone snapped a football to a quarterback and a linebacker had to make a decision and a receiver ran a route and football was happening again.

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Today in FootballNews & Notes

NFL

Free Agency Opens in Ten Days. Here Is What the Market Actually Looks Like.

Interior line, linebacker, and nickel corner are the deep markets. Quarterback supply is thin. The cap increase means buyers are flush. March 9 is the starting gun.

NFL free agency opens March 11, and the negotiating window — when teams can speak directly with players under contract to other organizations — opens March 9. The twelve days between now and that window represent the final planning phase for front offices that have spent the winter preparing for this market. The positions where the quality of available players most clearly exceeds recent offseasons: interior offensive line, linebacker, and nickel cornerback. Each of those markets will be active and competitive from the moment the window opens.

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NCAAAthens

Georgia Opens Spring With 16 Returning Starters and a Carson Beck Shoulder Situation to Monitor

Smart chose continuity over portal volume this offseason. The result is a roster with unusual cohesion. Whether Beck is fully healthy is the spring's central question.

Georgia opened spring practice Monday with the largest returning starter group Kirby Smart has coached since arriving in Athens. The Bulldogs have 16 players back who started at least eight games in 2025, which is an unusual volume of continuity at a program that routinely sends players to the NFL Draft after their junior seasons. That continuity is deliberate. Smart made a decision in the offseason to prioritize retention through the portal and NIL rather than use the spring to integrate a heavy transfer class. The result is a roster that looks like a roster — not a collection of pieces still figuring out how to coexist — and a spring practice schedule that can focus on refinement rather than installation.

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NFL

The 2026 Offensive Line Class Has a Consensus Top Tackle and Real Value in the Second Round

Ohio State's Josh Simmons is the clear No. 1. Alabama's Tyler Booker generated more combine attention than projected. Michigan's Drake Nugent is underrated at center.

The offensive line class in the 2026 NFL Draft is generating significant interest from teams that need immediate starters, and several prospects in the first and second rounds have the potential to contribute from day one at positions of scarcity. Ohio State's Josh Simmons is the consensus top offensive tackle in the class, and his combine week reinforced what tape evaluation had already established: he has NFL-ready footwork, above-average strength at the point of attack, and the length to play either side at the next level. The position versatility matters. Teams selecting in the top fifteen are already calculating how Simmons fits their blocking scheme and whether his floor justifies the pick. The answer, for most teams, appears to be yes.

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CFLHamiltonTorontoWinnipegSaskatchewan

CFL Roster Deadline Passed. Hamilton Got Stronger. Toronto Lost Its Defensive Anchor.

McManis from Toronto to Hamilton is a double move — it helps the Tiger-Cats and hurts the Argonauts simultaneously. Winnipeg stayed quiet. Saskatchewan added depth.

The CFL's roster deadline for finalizing free agency commitments passed Sunday, and the league's nine teams now have a clearer picture of what they're building toward when training camp opens in May. Hamilton's addition of Wynton McManis gives the Tiger-Cats a legitimate defensive anchor for the first time since they parted with Simoni Lawrence three years ago. McManis arriving from Toronto also removes a player who had been consistently problematic for Hamilton in late-season games — the kind of rival-to-roster move that helps twice. Hamilton's defense was functional in 2025; with McManis, the ceiling rises.

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NFLIndianapolis

Competition Committee Proposes Expanding Practice Squads to 18 Players With Additional Protection

The proposal goes to ownership vote in Phoenix. Teams that develop young players would benefit most. The unintended consequence is more roster stasis at the bottom of depth charts.

The NFL's competition committee met in Indianapolis this week during the combine, and several proposed rule changes are expected to go to a full ownership vote at the March league meetings in Phoenix. The most consequential of the proposals under discussion involves practice squad eligibility and the conditions under which teams can protect players from being signed away. The current practice squad structure allows teams to carry 16 players, with specific exemptions for players with significant NFL experience. The proposal being discussed would expand the practice squad to 18 players while also modifying the protection rules to give teams one additional protected player per week. The motivation is straightforward: teams that develop young players are routinely losing those players to competitors who have identified them through film and are willing to elevate them immediately.

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