Clayton: Position is everything when it comes to the franchise tag

The franchise tag signing deadline passed on Wednesday, and six of seven tagged players didn’t get deals.

Carolina Panthers right tackle Tyler Moten squeezed in a four-year, $72 million deal at the last minute. Three got deals early. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, New York Giants defensive tackle Leonard Williams and Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons reached long-term deals. What we learn each year about the franchise tag is that positions matter.

The five highest paid positions are quarterback, defensive end, left tackle, wide receiver and cornerback. If you look at the seven franchise players who didn’t get long-term deals, you can understand the problem. Defensive tackles don’t make anywhere close to as much as defensive ends, so it’s easy the Giants could reach an agreement. Safeties are valuable, but they don’t make as much as cornerbacks.

Broncos general manager George Paton believed Simmons was going to be the best safety on the market. He put the tag on him and then made him the highest paid safety at $15.25 million a year.

The six franchise players who didn’t get long-term deals aren’t at the position that get deals done. Two were wide receivers. Receivers get paid, but they can make so much that it’s not easy to reach a deal. You have receivers making more than $20 million a year. Allen Robinson of the Chicago Bears and Chris Godwin of the Jacksonville Jaguars couldn’t reach compromises with their team. There were two offensive linemen — two guards. Because half the league is paying left tackles prime money, it’s hard for the guards and most right tackles to get the type of deals that are workable.

The remaining two players were safeties — Marcus Maye of the New York Jets and Marcus Williams of the New Orleans Saints. They don’t rate as high as Simmons, so it was hard to get them in the $14 million to $15 million a year range. As for the quarterbacks, they are the most important position on the team, which explains why Prescott got his $40 million a year.

Cowboys owner Stephen Jones did say this week the Cowboys made a mistake in not getting him a deal last year. It probably cost the Cowboys more than $6 million a year and more in signing bonus money.

This was going to be a unique time for franchise players. The cap was down eight percent to $182.5 million. If you notice, the only team with a winning record that franchised a player was the Saints, who franchised Williams. Chicago and Washington made the playoffs, but they didn’t have winning records. The Bears went 8-8 and the Washington Football Team went 7-9 and won the NFC East.

The lower cap was brutal to guards and right tackles. Several $10 million players were released at those positions. Moton’s signing raises the number of well-paid right tackles to seven. Only six left guards and five right guards are making more than $10 million a year. Compare that to 16 left tackles making more than $10 million a year.

We continue to learn is position is everything for franchise tags.