As we move through NFL OTAs and mandatory minicamps to gear up for the start of training camps at the end of July, a handful of big names have uncertain futures — contractually speaking — with their teams. So, we checked in around the league on where things stand for 20 stars who could either get paid this summer or walk next offseason.
The Cincinnati Bengals find themselves in an interesting space with their star wide receivers, and the Dallas Cowboys need to figure out what they want to do with arguably their three biggest stars.
NFL Nation gives the latest on each player and what’s next. Let’s dive in.
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Franchise tag | 2025 FAs | 2026 FAs
ON THE FRANCHISE TAG
Latest on negotiations: Higgins and the Bengals haven’t had negotiations for a new contract in more than a year, multiple sources have told ESPN. The 2020 second-round draft pick is the only player franchise-tagged this offseason who has yet to receive a long-term extension.
Higgins has not signed the tender worth $21.8 million. After requesting a trade earlier in the offseason, Higgins later indicated he will play for the Bengals in 2024.
Cincinnati has used the franchise tag three times in the past decade, on DE Michael Johnson (2013), WR A.J. Green (2020) and S Jessie Bates III (2022). None signed a long-term deal with his respective club.
It is certainly trending that way for Cincinnati’s No. 2 wide receiver. — Ben Baby
2025 FREE AGENTS
Latest on negotiations: Aiyuk has not participated during the voluntary portion of the offseason program, but that’s to be expected as he awaits what figures to be a lucrative contract extension.
Like some of the other 49ers stars before him (George Kittle, Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa), patience might again be the operative word. The current Niners regime has almost always gotten deals like these done, but not until later in the summer, with Bosa’s not being finalized until days before last year’s season opener.
A deal doesn’t appear to be imminent, but the 49ers remain confident something will get done to keep Aiyuk for the long haul. — Nick Wagoner
Latest on negotiations: With Aiyuk’s situation looming, the Niners aren’t in a good position to dole out another big-money contract, which means Ward is more likely to play out the 2024 campaign and have a chance to cash in next offseason, when he will be 29 years old.
Ward also is coming off a core muscle injury that required surgery, and he isn’t expected to be back on the field until training camp — all of which makes a wait-and-see approach the most likely path. — Wagoner
Latest on negotiations: Godwin is entering the third and final year of a $60 million deal with the Bucs, and sources close to the situation told ESPN that talks on an extension have not started. The Bucs will want to see how he performs in Liam Coen’s offense moving back to the inside, where Godwin saw a heavy amount of production in Bruce Arians’ offense.
Last year in Dave Canales’ offense, Godwin lined up mostly outside and had some very quiet games before moving back inside. Despite the shuffling around and suffering a torn right ACL in Week 15 in 2021, Godwin amassed 1,023 and 1,024 receiving yards in 2022 and 2023.
“He’s an inside guy by nature. He can play outside. But he can make a living inside doing a bunch of things for us. We plan to let him do a lot of things that he does best,” Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said. “He was coming off the injury last year, so I don’t know if he was at full tilt inside or outside. But he looks a lot quicker, a lot lighter, and he’s healthier now.”
It should be noted that the Bucs did draft a potential Godwin replacement in Jalen McMillan, whom they selected in the third round out of Washington in April. — Jenna Laine
Latest on negotiations: Humphrey could ask for top-of-the-market money for his position. He has been that good since joining the Chiefs as a second-round draft pick in 2021. Humphrey had the second-best pass block win rate for an offensive lineman and the best for a center (98.4%) last season. He also was second (98.1%) in 2022 and led the NFL (97.7%) as a rookie.
The Chiefs haven’t spent big on their own offensive linemen when they’ve come up for new contracts in recent years. Center Mitch Morse and tackle Orlando Brown Jr. are examples of players who signed elsewhere as free agents, though Kansas City gave a big contract to guard Joe Thuney in 2021 when he was a free agent with the New England Patriots and to former Jacksonville Jaguars tackle Jawaan Taylor last year.
Complicating matters is that the Chiefs have two other top players coming up for new contracts in guard Trey Smith and linebacker Nick Bolton. — Adam Teicher
Latest on negotiations: Team owner Jerry Jones might have been delighted to hear Prescott say during OTAs that he doesn’t “play for money,” but he knows the final price on an agreement will be significant, perhaps higher than the $55 million annually Joe Burrow makes as the league’s highest-paid quarterback.
To date, there haven’t been meaningful talks between the sides. While the Cowboys have been criticized for waiting to get a deal done, Prescott has shown patience. It worked for the signal-caller in 2021, when he signed his four-year, $160 million deal, and it could work again. Getting something done before the season starts would be preferable for the Cowboys, but the final deadline is early March.
Without a deal before the 2025 league year, Prescott will count $40.5 million against the cap and likely be headed to a new team, following the path Kirk Cousins went through this offseason. — Todd Archer
1:23
McAfee weighs in on Dak Prescott’s contract saga
Pat McAfee and his crew discuss Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s contract status before he potentially hits free agency.
Latest on negotiations: During the draft, Jones said he “wanted to see some more leaves fall” when it came to some of the contracts the Cowboys would like to complete. Shortly thereafter, Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown and Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown signed deals averaging $30 million and $32 million, respectively. While those might be trumped-up figures with funny math, there is little doubt Lamb’s contract will be in or above that neighborhood.
If more leaves fall, such as a Justin Jefferson deal with Minnesota, then the price for Lamb could go even higher. Of the Cowboys’ big three deals for Prescott, Lamb and Micah Parsons, the talks with Lamb could begin in earnest soon, with an eye on getting finalized in training camp. He has skipped the offseason program for the first time and worked on his own, but Lamb has gotten in multiple throwing sessions with Prescott. — Archer
Latest on negotiations: The Dolphins have entered negotiations with Tagovailoa, although there doesn’t appear to be an immediate deal in sight. Tagovailoa was absent for at least a portion of the team’s offseason program over the past month, which is unusual for him. Both sides want to get a deal done, and it likely will result in 2020’s No. 5 pick being one of the highest-paid players in the NFL.
Miami doesn’t necessarily need to extend him this offseason, as Tagovailoa still has the final year of his rookie deal in 2024. The Dolphins also could apply the franchise tag in future years. — Marcel Louis-Jacques
Latest on negotiations: The Packers couldn’t do anything with Love until May 3, the date of his 2023 extension; NFL rules mandate that contracts can’t be extended within 12 months. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t working on a deal before that.
Love’s attendance and participation in the offseason program suggests he isn’t overly concerned about getting a deal done. The start of training camp could bring more urgency, and while Love said his agents haven’t advised him not to play a game without a new deal, the start of the regular season seems like the latest possible time frame.
After how Love looked in the second half of last season, it’s hard to imagine him playing for the $11 million he is slated to make this season. — Rob Demovsky
Latest on negotiations: For the first time since he entered the league in 2011, Heyward didn’t report to OTAs, as he and his agent try to negotiate an extension with the team that selected him late in the first round. Heyward is in the final year of a four-year, $65.6 million extension he signed prior to the 2020 campaign.
With Heyward’s 2024 cap hit checking in north of $22 million, it makes financial sense for the Steelers to sign him to a short extension to lessen the blow. But Heyward is also 35 years old and coming off a significant groin injury that knocked him out for six games of the 2023 season.
He has expressed a desire to keep playing, but the Steelers have to weigh their loyalty to a foundational defensive captain with the reality of his age and injury history. — Brooke Pryor
Latest on negotiations: The Vikings have been unequivocal about their intent to get a deal done with Jefferson, and talks have been underway for more than a year despite rumors about his potential availability in a trade.
“I don’t want to be the Vikings’ GM without that guy on our team,” Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said in February 2023, stating later the sides got “unbelievably close” before breaking off talks prior to the start of the last season.
But the negotiations are complicated, as Jefferson acknowledged in September when he said, “I’ve done something that no one has ever done in the history of the game, so my situation is a little bit different than everyone else’s.”
While there is every expectation that a deal will get done, it will hinge on how close the Vikings will go to make Jefferson the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL, a distinction currently held by 49ers pass-rusher Bosa. — Kevin Seifert
2026 FREE AGENTS
Latest on negotiations: Chase, like the other top wideouts on the market, is in a holding pattern. Jefferson, Chase’s former teammate at LSU, has yet to receive a new contract following his historic NFL start.
Even prior to the start of his third NFL season — before he was eligible for an extension — Chase made it clear he was looking to receive top-of-market money, noting he needed to see what Jefferson got before going to the negotiating table.
Chase’s fifth-year option has been picked up for 2025. While signing an extension earlier could help ease the financial burden of a megadeal, Cincinnati has Chase under contract for the next two seasons. — Baby
1:02
Why Higgins, Chase absences are two very different situations
Dan Graziano breaks down Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase not being at the start of Bengals OTAs.
Latest on negotiations: While Wirfs has been a fixture in the Bucs’ weight room this offseason, he has not attended OTAs because of his contract situation.
“Me and Tristan had a conversation — plenty of conversations,” Tampa Bay coach Bowles said. “He’s still working out, and he’s been here all offseason, so I’m comfortable with that.”
The Bucs’ policy typically has been for these players to play out their fifth-year options, as was the case last year with inside linebacker Devin White. But unlike White, who requested a trade last offseason because no deal was done, the Bucs want to re-sign Wirfs. And by all accounts, Wirfs should get paid north of the $112 million for four years offensive tackle Penei Sewell received from the Detroit Lions, making him the highest paid tackle in the league. — Laine
Latest on negotiations: Broncos general manager George Paton said it was a “no-brainer” just before Denver engaged the fifth-year option on Surtain’s rookie deal.
The team’s first-round pick in 2021, Surtain is under contract through the 2025 season. And with two Pro Bowl selections to go with a first-team All-Pro selection in Surtain’s first three years in the league, the Broncos certainly are intent on securing him to a long-term deal. But they clearly will have to make Surtain one of the highest paid cornerbacks in the league to do it, especially if they want to entice him to sign before a chance at the open market.
The Broncos also will have to show Surtain they are on the right track to end the string of eight consecutive playoff misses. Surtain spent plenty of time in the defensive backs meeting room with Justin Simmons, who did not participate in a playoff game during his eight years with the team. It is the first real free agency test for the Walton-Penner ownership to retain one of the team’s best players and not simply spend big on those from elsewhere. — Jeff Legwold
Latest on negotiations: In an offense where linemen have been described as superstars, locking the former All-Pro into a long-term deal likely will be a priority for the Chargers.
Neither side has indicated otherwise: L.A. picked up Slater’s fifth-year option, and he has been present at the team’s optional offseason activities. One potential hurdle in negotiations could be how the team plans to use Slater after drafting Notre Dame left tackle Joe Alt with the No. 5 pick in April, though coach Jim Harbaugh said on draft night that Slater is solidified as the team’s starting left tackle this season.
The Chargers currently have $26.4 million in salary cap space. — Kris Rhim
Latest on negotiations: The Colts’ 2021 first-round pick is coming off his best season, with career highs in sacks (8.5), forced fumbles (2) and tackles (52). But his ultimate fate remains unclear.
The Colts are not believed to have entered into negotiations on an extension for Paye just yet, especially in light of their recent decision to draft standout UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu with the 15th pick. But the Colts did exercise the fifth-year option on Paye’s contract for 2025 despite taking that decision right up to the final hour before the deadline.
Paye’s performance in 2024 likely will dictate whether the Colts look to sign him to an extension in 2025 or let him play out his deal. — Stephen Holder
Latest on negotiations: Of the Cowboys’ big three, Parsons’ deal is likeliest to be on the back burner. It’s not that the Cowboys don’t want to sign him to a long-term contract right now, but they have him locked up through 2025 on the fifth-year option and will have the franchise tag available to use in 2026, if necessary.
Parsons’ absence from most of the offseason program has not been a contract ploy but rather his desire to train on his own.
Whenever the two sides come to an agreement, look for Parsons to be the highest paid defensive player in the NFL, topping pass-rusher Bosa’s $34 million annual salary with the Niners. — Archer
Latest on negotiations: Wide receiver DeVonta Smith, Waddle’s former teammate at Alabama, secured a sizable three-year, $75 million contract extension this offseason, and Waddle — the No. 6 pick in 2021 — should be one of the next wideouts in line for a payday.
Despite playing alongside Tyreek Hill the past two seasons, Waddle’s 3,385 receiving yards rank 13th in the NFL since 2021. He likely won’t be paid like Hill, Jefferson, Chase or Lamb, but Waddle should be toward the top of the second tier of highest paid receivers in the league, like Smith.
The Dolphins do have some time to get a deal done, as Waddle enters the fourth year of his rookie deal in 2024, and his fifth-year option for 2025 was picked up last month. — Louis-Jacques
Latest on negotiations: Jaguars GM Trent Baalke said he’d like to have an extension completed this offseason. Lawrence said his job isn’t going to change if it doesn’t happen but that it “would be nice to have that done and feel good about it.”
Talks are ongoing, and the intriguing number will be where Lawrence lands on the average salary list. Lions QB Jared Goff‘s recent extension makes him the fifth quarterback to have an annual average salary of more than $50 million, and everyone on that list has taken his team to a Super Bowl or a conference championship game, won MVP or ranked among the top passers in yards and touchdowns over the past four seasons.
Lawrence is fourth on the Jaguars’ all-time passing yards (11,770) and passing TDs (58) lists, but does that warrant $50 million annually? Or is it just the going rate for a quarterback the team believes can reach a Super Bowl? Time will tell. — Mike DiRocco
Latest on negotiations: Darrisaw is every bit the building block that Jefferson is, despite the imbalance in public discussion between the two. That’s the case despite the fact that Darrisaw has yet to earn an initial spot in the Pro Bowl (he was a fourth alternate in 2023), let alone an All-Pro designation.
Where Darrisaw stands in the NFL hierarchy of left tackles is debatable, but what’s indisputable is that the Vikings view him as a player who can hold down his position into the next decade.
There have been initial talks between the sides, as would be expected, but there is no indication that a deal — which would be two years early, something that happens in relatively rare occasions — is imminent. — Seifert