Offseason Primer: Franchise Tag Window Opens & Scouting Combine Preview

The Business of Football Begins

February 17, 2026, marked the official opening of the NFL's Franchise and Transition Player designation period. Running through March 3, this two-week window allows NFL front offices to legally bind their most critical pending free agents for the upcoming season.

Simultaneously, the NFL Scouting Combine begins on February 23 in Indianapolis, setting the stage for the most crucial talent evaluation period of the fantasy football offseason.

Here is the analytical breakdown of what matters—and what doesn't—for your fantasy rosters.

The Franchise Tag Window: Market Ripple Effects

When a player receives the franchise tag, it guarantees them a highly lucrative, fully guaranteed one-year salary based on the top five salaries at their position.

Fantasy Implications of the Tag

1. Wide Receivers: If an elite WR is tagged, their Dynasty value remains virtually static. The primary fantasy impact is actually on the other players on that team. Tying up massive cap space in a tagged receiver often prevents a team from signing significant upgrades at offensive line or running back.
2. Running Backs: The "RB Tag" is a dreaded signal in Dynasty formats. It indicates a team values the player for the immediate given year but refuses to commit long-term. If your Dynasty RB receives the franchise tag, treat it as a one-year window to sell. The historical data shows running backs highly rarely sign lucrative long-term extensions after playing on the tag, and their trade value plummets the following offseason.
3. Tight Ends: Tight ends represent one of the cheaper franchise tag values for NFL teams. Elite tight ends are frequently tagged. This stabilizes their immediate redraft value but delays long-term security.

The 2026 NFL Scouting Combine: Evaluating Signal vs. Noise

Beginning February 23 at Lucas Oil Stadium, over 300 draft prospects will undergo medical evaluations, interviews, and athletic testing.

For fantasy managers, it is incredibly easy to overreact to Combine metrics. Here is a data-driven approach to evaluating the incoming rookie class:

What Actually Matters for Fantasy

• Wide Receiver Speed Scores: The 40-yard dash time is mostly noise, unless adjusted for weight. A 215-pound receiver running a 4.45 is significantly more predictive of NFL success than a 170-pound receiver running a 4.38. Focus on weight-adjusted speed scores.
• Running Back Density: Look for running backs who weigh 210+ pounds. Smaller backs rarely secure three-down roles in the modern NFL, severely capping their fantasy ceiling regardless of how fast they run the three-cone drill.
• Quarterback Mobility: Pay close attention to the unofficial 10-yard splits and agility drills for quarterbacks. In modern fantasy football, the base floor is established by rushing yards. A quarterback prospect who lacks lateral agility at the Combine will almost exclusively rely on hyper-efficient passing to be a fantasy QB1—a statistically improbable outcome for a rookie.

What To Ignore

• Quarterback Throwing Sessions: Throwing against air without a pass rush tells evaluators nothing about a quarterback's ability to process reads under pressure.
• Bench Press: There is statistically zero correlation between the number of bench press reps and fantasy football scoring for any skill position.

Action Plan: As the Combine concludes on March 2, update your Dynasty Rookie Draft boards primarily based on Draft Capital projections, using Combine athletic testing to break ties between similarly ranked players, rather than completely rewriting your evaluations.