Four NFL players had a franchise tag or transition tag placed on them before Tuesday’s deadline, but Super Bowl MVP and Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III is not one of them.

Seattle Seahawks’ risks with Kenneth Walker III set to be free agent

The Indianapolis Colts placed a transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones and the New York Jets used the franchise tag on running back Breece Hall as teams beat the deadline Tuesday to place tags on potential free agents.

Dallas receiver George Pickens and Atlanta tight end Kyle Pitts had the franchise tags placed on them well before the deadline.

In addition to Walker, the other prominent players who didn’t get tagged and could hit the open market next week are Cincinnati edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, Baltimore center Tyler Linderbaum, Chargers edge rusher Odafe Oweh and Jacksonville running back Travis Etienne.

Walker capped his fourth season by winning Super Bowl MVP for Seattle when he rushed for 135 yards in the win last month over New England.

Walker is coming off the second 1,000-yard rushing season of his career and averaged 104.3 yards per game rushing in the playoffs when he showed he could carry a heavy load after Zach Charbonnet went down with a season-ending knee injury in the divisional round.

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General manager John Schneider declined last week at the NFL Combine to answer whether the team would use a tag to keep Walker locked up for 2026.

“We’d love to have Ken back, we’d love to have everybody back,” Schneider said. “But he knows this better than anybody, it’s about our 70, our collective, and what it’s going to look like. And we’ll have those meetings down here. We’ll start, you know, talking to all the agents and, yeah, we’ll have a better feel of where we’re going to go toward the end of the week. But, obviously, we’d love that (having Walker back). When you get something special like that, let’s run it back.”

The four total tags surpass last year’s total of two. There had been an average of more than nine franchise tags handed out each year from 2020-24, with two other players getting the transition tag with the previous one going to New England’s Kyle Dugger in 2024.

The Colts opted to use the $37.8 million transition tag on Jones instead of the $43.9 million franchise tag, opening up the possibility that he could still leave without compensation for Indianapolis. Jones can sign an offer sheet with another team once free agency officially starts March 11 with the Colts having five days to match or allow him to leave.

Jones had a promising start to his first season with the Colts, helping the team get off to an 8-2 start before being slowed by a leg injury and then going down with a torn right Achilles tendon in a Week 14 loss to Jacksonville.

The Colts lost the final seven games of the season and missed the playoffs for a fifth straight year, becoming the first team since the 1995 Oakland Raiders to miss the postseason after starting the season 8-2 or better.

Jones set career highs in passer rating (100.2) and completion rate (68%) as Indianapolis ranked fifth in the NFL in scoring at 28.9 points per game before he went down with the season-ending injury.

Jones threw 19 TD passes with only eight interceptions, while also rushing for 164 yards and five TDs.

The Colts are uncertain when Jones will be ready to play again after getting hurt on Dec. 7. The team has 2025 sixth-round pick Riley Leonard on the roster, as well as 2023 first-rounder Anthony Richardson, who has been given permission to seek a trade.

Hall got the $14.3 million franchise tag from New York, meaning the Jets would get two first-round picks as compensation if they didn’t match any potential offer sheet.

Hall, who turns 25 in May, was a second-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Iowa State, but didn’t receive a contract extension last offseason as first-rounders Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson did. That caused some uncertainty about Hall’s future with the franchise, and he was mentioned in trade rumors leading up to last year’s deadline.

But coach Aaron Glenn insisted the Jets wanted to keep Hall as the engine of their offense. New York planned to use a three-running back approach with Hall, Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis sharing carries, but Allen injured a knee and landed on injured reserve and Davis remained a clear No. 2.

The Jets, with new offensive coordinator Frank Reich, will be looking for a new quarterback this offseason but the franchise tag on Hall gives New York the chance to keep the playmaking running back in its backfield while also trying to negotiate a contract extension.

Hall rushed for a career-high 1,065 yards in 2025 despite missing the final game with a knee ailment, becoming the first Jets player to top 1,000 yards rushing in a season since Chris Ivory in 2015. Hall has 1,000 yards from scrimmage in three straight seasons, just the sixth player — and fifth running back — in franchise history to accomplish that feat.

Hall said on social media that he’s willing to “bet on myself.”

The only three running backs in the NFL who have contracts with an average annual value of more than the $14.3 million Hall are former AP NFL Offensive Players of the Year Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry.

Pickens’ tag is worth about $27.3 million for next season as the Cowboys look to retain him after acquiring him in a deal from Pittsburgh last offseason.

Pickens, who turns 25 on Wednesday, had career highs in catches (93), yards receiving (1,429) and touchdowns (nine) for one of the best offenses in the NFL last season. Dallas had one of the worst defenses in the league and finished 7-9-1, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Pitts’ tag is worth about $15 million for next season. The fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft earned second-team All-Pro honors after he had a career-high 88 receptions and five touchdowns last season. His 928 receiving yards were the second most among NFL tight ends, behind only Arizona’s Trey McBride.

Teams can sign players on the tags to long-term deals between now and July 15, otherwise players can only play on one-year deals for 2026.

Seattle Sports staff made additions to this post.

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