Schefter: Kenny Golladay may avoid franchise tag after turning down $18M from Lions in 2020

On Monday morning ESPN’s Adam Schefter dropped a couple interesting notes about Detroit Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay during an appearance on “Get Up.”

First, he noted that discussions between the Lions and Golladay were serious last year, and the young receiver turned down some serious money.

“Keep in mind last year these two sides had discussion about a long-term extension, and Kenny Golladay turned down somewhere around $18, $19 million a year, depending on who you want to believe,” Schefter said.

That kind of payday would have put Golladay among the NFL’s elite, with only DeAndre Hopkins ($27.3), Julio Jones ($22M), Keenan Allen ($20M), Amari Cooper ($20M) and Michael Thomas ($19.25M) averaging more per year currently.

With Golladay only playing in five games in 2020 and the salary cap decreasing this year, it stands to reason his price tag could go down this year. That leads to Schefter’s second interesting point.

According to the ESPN insider, the Lions may not end up using the franchise tag on Golladay, which is currently estimated to be a one-year, $16.4 million deal by Over The Cap.

“I think there’s a chance here with a new regime in Detroit that they could opt not to tag him at all, which would allow him to become one of the most coveted free agents out there,” Schefter said. “We’ll see whether the Lions do decide to use that tag by the 4 p.m. Eastern deadline on Tuesday. I think there’s a chance they won’t.”

Schefter uses pretty soft language out there, but he’s also not one to just throw things against the wall to see if it sticks. This also runs contrary to earlier reports that suggested it would be a big surprise if Golladay didn’t get tagged.

Regardless, we should get an answer soon to what the Lions decide to do with Golladay, even if the franchise deadline is moved back a few days while the NFL decides on a final salary cap number for 2021.