Cowboys, Broncos place franchise tags on Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas

The deadline to place a franchise tag on a player in the NFL was Monday at 4 p.m. ET. Plenty of rumors were swirling around the league about players that could be tagged by their teams. Quite few of those players were at the wide receiver position.

Arguably the most controversial of all players eligible to get tagged was Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys. Despite all the controversy surrounding a video that might jeopardize his career potentially surfacing, Bryant was tagged by the Cowboys on Monday, according to Todd Archer of ESPN:

The Dallas Cowboys informed the agent for Dez Bryant on Friday that they will place the franchise tag on the All-Pro wide receiver by Monday’s deadline, executive vice president Stephen Jones confirmed.

In 16 games for the Cowboys last season, Bryant caught 88 passes for 1,320 receiving yards and a career-high 16 touchdowns. Dez has improved every year since being drafted by Dallas back in 2010 turned the corner during the 2014 NFL season possibly earning the distinction as the best wide receiver in the game.

Along with Bryant receiving a franchise tag from the Cowboys, the Denver Broncos chose to place a franchise tag on Demaryius Thomas, according to Jeff Legwold of ESPN:

The Denver Broncos on Monday placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.

There was a lot of debate about the direction of the Broncos franchise after the firing of head coach John Fox following an early exit in the NFL playoffs last year. Peyton Manning’s future with the team has been up in the air, but the five-time NFL MVP intends to return for another season.

With Manning set to return, the question has been which players will surround the superstar quarterback. Demaryius Thomas will be back for at least one more season as a result of the franchise tag, but tight end Julius Thomas might leave Denver in free agency.