The franchise tag period is officially in the books, and some big-time free agents should be available next week when the new league year opens up.

We'll talk about that, plus more, on Wednesday's edition of the Locked-on Raiders podcast for March 4th, 2026.

You are Locked-on Raiders, your daily Las Vegas Raiders podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome here, Raider Nation, to another edition of the Locked-on Raiders podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your number one sports podcast network. You know, we're very proud of that. We're also very proud of the fact that this show continues to grow each and every day, and that's because of your support and the great job that my man Ari does behind the scenes, making sure we look good and sound good by way of the YouTube pace. So we salute you,

Raider Nation. We also salute my man Ari. You want to find him on Twitter. You can at Ari produces. You can hit me up as well at your boy Q254. And if you want to be a part of the show, We got the Lockdown Raider podcast voicemail line for you 707-654-4-4693 as we normally do.

We'll hear from you.

We'll close out the show.

Calls, text. We got the Lockdown Raider podcast voicemail line for you 707-654-4-4693 as we normally do. We'll hear from you. We'll close out the show, calls, texts, a lot of great feedback, a lot of different subjects. Again, we salute you for being a big-time contributor to the show. So we'll do that coming up in segment number three. Segment number two, the conversation that never goes away, at least not yet, right? the Max Crosby situation, will he get traded? Won't he get traded? There is not a rumor, but there's plenty of reports going around right now that the Chicago Bears are the team to watch for Max Crosby. A lot of different reports have come out saying that Max Crosby wants to be in Chicago. Reports coming out saying Chicago wants Max Crosby.

And of course, many different teams do want him.

I was checking out the betting odds going into Tuesday.

And the Bears were at plus 200 with the Raiders at plus 500 as for us who was going to have

Max Crosby services in 2026.

And then by the end of the day, it ended up being at minus 1.35 for the Chicago Bears.

So that was a lot of movement that happened when it comes to, you know, the betting lines and where Max Crosby is going to play. And that's not the end-all be-all. That doesn't matter and mean that that's where he's going to play because all of a sudden the betting lines moved. But it does mean something. And if anyone who follows, you know, betting and is on Fanduil.com and, you know, checking out March Madden is coming up. And as part of that, knows that the lines when they move like that, usually it has, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. And, uh, and you just got to kind of buckle up and watch and pay attention. So I had to go to a source. I went out to my guy Mark Silverman from Waddle and Sylvie there in ESP in Chicago, covers the bears like a glove. If anyone's going to know anything when it comes to Chicago, it's him. I had him as a guest on my radio show, so you'll hear part of that conversation when it comes to Max Crosby and a couple others in segment number two. really good stuff from Mark Silverman, Sylvie, from Waddle and Sylvie on ESPN Chicago.

Here in segment number one, news and notes of the day, and it really just has to do with free agency as teams are positioning themselves.

They're releasing players.

They hit them with the franchise tag on By Tuesday's deadline.

They had to make sure that they were in position. Obviously, they're trying to get under the salary cap as well in position for the new league year opening up next week, March 11th, 4 p.m. Eastern Time, one Pacific time. So the big move that happened on Tuesday, Kyla Murray officially released from the Arizona Cardinals. Now, they're going to try to trade them before the new league year opens.

At least agree to a trade with the team.

But if not, they're going to release them. Remember, he was the number one overall pick back in 2019. So it'll be a new era when it comes to quarterbacks in Arizona. It won't be Kyle Murray, that's for sure. Brees Hall, the running back from the Jets.

He got hit with the franchise tag.

George Pickens got hit with the franchise tag for the Dallas Cowboys.

He's the wide receiver there. Kyle Pitts, the tight end from the Falcons, got hit with the franchise tag. And Daniel Jones coming off of Torquile has got hit with the transition tag by the Colts, and that doesn't happen. Quarterbacks don't get hit with the transition tag. The only other quarterback that that's happened to was Jeff George back in the day with the Atlanta Falcons.

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