Bruce Arians, in his season-ending talk with the media Monday, covered a lot of subjects. Most talk about impending free agents was the nod to the team's desire to bring most everyone back. In particular, though, Arians made clear unrestricted-free-agent-to-be Chandler Jones will be a Cardinal in 2017.

"Chandler's not going anywhere because if we have to, we will franchise (tag) him," Arians said.

(A quick refresher: If a team tags a player and he signs the tender, he is guaranteed a one-year salary an average of the top five salaries from the previous year at the position. A player can still sign an offer sheet with another team before he signs the tender, but if he leaves the new team would have to surrender two No. 1 picks and also has the chance to match the new offer.)

General Manager Steve Keim said weeks ago talks about a long-term deal are ongoing. Obviously, no deal is done yet. Free agency begins March 9, so that's the time frame within which the two sides are negotiating before it comes to a tag. That the Cardinals would use the tag on Jones is no surprise at all; when Jones was acquired last March, he immediately became the most likely one to be tagged as a free agent.

Last year, the linebacker's franchise tag was slightly north of $14.1 million. It should go up this season.

The Cardinals, including Jones, have 19 scheduled unrestricted free agents. Jones, who finished with 11 sacks this year as a Pro Bowl alternate, said he wants to remain with the Cardinals. Many of the current free-agents-to-be have said the same. The difference is that Jones might not have a huge choice in the matter, at least for 2017.