The Franchise Tag Report Card: Six Teams Spent $5M

Five quarterbacks and a running back got the $5.0M brand. Only some of them were worth it.

Six franchise tags. Five quarterbacks. One running back. A fifth of the cap, six times over.

Louisville — Bijan Robinson. Grade: A. The only tag in the league that would survive an open market. Bijan at $5.0M is still cheaper than what he''d cost anybody at auction, and Louisville has nine picks to rebuild around him.

Philadelphia — Jalen Hurts. Grade: A-. Rushing quarterback, elite floor, and Philadelphia''s mini-cap still came in at $9.8M with Cook, Smith, Metcalf and London on it. The tag didn''t cost them a roster.

Newark — Josh Allen. Grade: B+. Correct player. The wrinkle: Newark also kept Joe Burrow at $1.3M. Carrying $6.3M in quarterbacks in a league that just released Mahomes, Stafford, Maye, Goff and Stroud is a lot of money in one aisle. Burrow should be on the block by draft day.

Montclair Heights — Trevor Lawrence. Grade: B-. Defensible if you believe in the leap. $5.0M for a QB who has never been a top-five fantasy passer is a premium price for stability, and Montclair''s $9.6M mini-cap around him is genuinely good — Jeanty, Hall, McConkey, Brian Thomas Jr.

Chicago — Caleb Williams. Grade: C+. The player fits the plan; the plan costs $18.1M and leaves $6.9M for an auction with 184 veterans in it. Chicago is buying nothing this spring. If Caleb hits, nobody cares.

West Hartford — Dak Prescott. Grade: C. Eleven keepers is a real roster and McCaffrey at $2.9M is fine value. But $5.0M for Dak, with Matthew Stafford, Drake Maye, Baker Mayfield and Bo Nix all sitting in the auction pool at a fraction of that, is the tag that will look worst in June.

Maine — Justin Herbert. Grade: C. Same argument, thinner roster. Eight keepers, $15.4M gone, and the quarterback position was about to get cheaper than it has ever been in this league.

Photo: Trevor Lawrence — Atlanta Falcons / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)