NFL moves deadline for franchise tags, Cowboys have more time with Dak Prescott & Amari Cooper negotiations

Originally, today (March 10th) was going to be the day that the Dallas Cowboys had to decide about using their franchise tag options on either Dak Prescott or Amari Cooper, or both. Because of the uncertainty of getting a Collective Bargaining Agreement done with the NFLPA, the league moved it back to Thursday the 12th. So all eyes were on that day for the Cowboys to either use their tag prerogative or get a deal done with their top players, or some combination of both.

Now, the date has moved again.

The NFL has pushed back the deadline for NFL teams to use their franchise tag(s) to Monday, March 16th at 11:59 AM. So don’t look for the Cowboys to tag either Prescott or Cooper, or both, this Thursday. They now have a little bit of extra time to try and get a deal done with one of them or both.

By placing the deadline at noon on Monday, the league does not have to change the “legal tampering” period that will start that day ahead of free agency which kicks off on March 18th, a week from this Wednesday. That is the start of the new year for the league.

The impetus for this move was the NFLPA’s decision to move the deadline for voting on the new CBA from this Thursday to Saturday at 11:59 AM. This will allow the teams to know whether the new proposed CBA has passed or not before they decide on franchise tags.

As we’ve discussed here often, if the new CBA passes, then teams, and by extension the Cowboys, will only be able to use one franchise tag designation this offseason (either a franchise tag or a transition tag). If the CBA doesn’t pass, then the Cowboys can use both the franchise and transition tags, and those would likely go to Prescott and Cooper.