The Kansas City Chiefs and other NFL clubs will soon have an opportunity to retain some key players ahead of the new league year and the start of free agency.

Teams are allotted one franchise or transition tag per season, which is used to retain a player that would otherwise become an unrestricted free agent. They’ll have a multi-week window to decide whether to apply the franchise tag to their pending free-agent players. Some teams use the franchise tag to further negotiations on long-term contract extensions, while others use the franchise tag to facilitate trades. Mostly, it’s about keeping players under team control.

The NFL’s franchise tag window officially opens this week, beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 17, before closing on Wednesday, March 4 at 4:00 p.m. ET. So, what options do the Chiefs have when it comes to the franchise tag in 2026?

How much will players earn under the franchise tag in 2026?

The franchise tag serves as a one-year qualifying offer with a fixed, fully guaranteed salary based on the player’s position and the salary cap.

Here are the current franchise tag estimations according to OverTheCap:

• QB: $47.3M
• WR: $28.7M
• LB: $28.1M
• OL: $27.9M
• DE: $27.3M
• DT: $26.3M
• CB: $21.4M
• S: $20.8M
• TE: $16.3M
• RB: $14.5M
• ST: $6.9M

You might be looking at those numbers and saying that the Chiefs can’t afford it. They currently have the league-worst salary cap situation, but that won’t last long.

Will the Chiefs use the franchise tag in 2026?

Given the Chiefs’ salary cap situation, the consensus is that they cannot afford a large, fully guaranteed cap hit for any of their free agents. The reality is that Kansas City can create $109 million in cap space based on simple contract restructures alone. That’d get them about $45 million over the salary cap. That’s before including anything like contract extensions and salary cap casualties. If the Chiefs want to use the franchise tag, they certainly will have the means to do so.

Kansas City hasn’t been afraid to use this tool under Andy Reid, using it six times in total, including four times during the Brett Veach era. Last season, the team surprised by placing the franchise tag on RG Trey Smith after the salary cap number made the move feasible for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs only have four pending free agents who really fit the bill in terms of the franchise tag for the 2026 NFL season: TE Travis Kelce, CB Jaylen Watson, S Bryan Cook, and LB Leo Chenal.

Watson is the one that I would watch out for in this group. The franchise tag could be a way for the Chiefs to hedge their bets on the cornerback position. Trent McDuffie is coming up on his fifth-year option season, which means an extension or trade is possible for the All-Pro cornerback ahead of the 2026 NFL season. Brett Veach probably wouldn’t want to lose a player like Watson if McDuffie were traded. However, if they’re able to extend McDuffie, a Watson franchise-tag-and-trade scenario could be an opportunity for the Chiefs to add draft capital.

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