And off we go … The NFL has decided to go ahead and start its new football year as planned on Wednesday despite the issues related to the pandemic that have shut down just about every other aspect of day-to-day living. That means the free agent signing and trading period will in fact get underway later this week. It also means that teams are now free to negotiate with other teams potential free agents prior to the start of free agent signing period on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the deadline to tag potential free agents as either franchise or transition players comes up at midnight tonight. So far, a number of players have either been tagged or their teams have said they will apply the franchise designation including Kansas City DT Chris Jones, Tampa Bay ER Shaq Barrett, Baltimore OLB Matt Judon, Washington OG Brandon Scherff, Denver S Justin Simmons and Pittsburgh ER Bud Dupree. After having resigned QB Ryan Tannehill to a big extension over the weekend, the Titans are expected to franchise RB Derrick Henry later today, while the Giants are expected to hit defensive lineman Leonard Williams with a transition tag. At the same time, other major resignings include Indianapolis extending LT Anthony Castanzo to a two-year deal, while New England has reupped safety Devin McCourty, also for another 2 years.
