The Dallas Cowboys announced the team is planning to place the franchise tag on Dalton Schultz on Tuesday afternoon.
Once the tag is placed, the 25-year-old tight end will be guaranteed a one-year salary of $10.8 million this year. The tag will keep Schultz from going into free agency when the next NFL season begins.
The franchise tag allows NFL teams to pick one player on the roster who is about to be an unrestricted free agent and give them a one-year contract to stay on the team, as long as certain conditions are met.
The Cowboys did sign tight end Blake Jarwin to a four-year, $22 million contract extension in 2020, but injuries have derailed his play the past few seasons.
Drafted out of Stanford back in 2018, Schultz set career-highs in catches (78), yards (808) and touchdowns (8), all metrics that hadn’t been reached by a Cowboys tight end since Jason Witten’s 2013 season.
Since then, no tight end for Dallas had surpassed 77 catches or 715 yards, and Schultz’s eight scores had only been reached by a Cowboys tight end two other times in the last 25 years, both by the future Hall of Famer Witten.
Schultz’s surge also landed him second overall in catches and tied for first in touchdowns on the team in 2021.
The Cowboys head into this upcoming offseason about $20 million over the cap with the future of other veteran players still murky.
NFL teams do not have to get below the cap until the start of the next league year, which is Wednesday, March 16 at 3 p.m.