Breaking News: Orlando Brown Will Not Be Franchise Tagged, Will Become Free Agent
36 repliesIn a surprise twist, the Chiefs will not be franchise tagging left tackle Orlando Brown, per source. He’s set to be a free agent March 13. The player has been notified.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 6, 2023
As Fowler said, this is a huge surprise. I had it as one of the easier decisions this offseason. But the Chiefs must have decided that he wasn’t worth the cost of even just a one year $20 million deal. While it’s theoretically possible that they work out a deal, if they feel the franchise tag number is too much then it’s hard to imagine they would be willing to give him an even longer, likely more expensive, contract.
This means that the Chiefs will be in the market for a new left tackle, and with Wylie being a free agent as well that makes both ends of the offensive line that need to be addressed.
UPDATE:
A little bit more on what the Chiefs are thinking.
Chiefs' decision to not tag Orlando Brown came down to, I'm told, their desire to lock in a long-term LT this offseason. Tagging Brown doesn't do it. It'd basically guarantee he's free in '24, make it harder to do a deal (bc of the $20M number) now.
They'll look at all options.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 6, 2023
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What I dont get is why not tag and trade him
Just my opinion, but I wasn’t a fan of OBJr so I’m ok on letting him walk. But the question now becomes who’s going to take his place? OBJr played well for us down the stretch so replacing him won’t be easy. I’m sure there’s a plan in place but I’m a still a tad shocked.
no one on the current roster, apparently
For the Frank Clark news. Sorry for the delay I’ve been in meetings at work.
https://arrowheadguys.com/breaking-news-frank-clark-will-be-released/
Don’t let that shit happen again!
I for one will miss Frank. I still hope they work something out.
If you were curious what position we are drafting first this year . . .
If I recall, when Thuney played LG for us, he did a pretty good job.
Frank Clark expected to be cut per Adam Schefter
test the open market?
Well duh.
It’s really the only reasonable option
Meh.
Mountain of man that we could never run behind.
He’ll never be better at handling the speed rush as he is today and he’s not good at it today.
Sucks losing him and not getting anything substantial in return but we just saved ourselves 22 mill this year. Spend wisely veach.
Well. I’m glad I spent all morning writing my fanpost arguing against paying OBJ, only to refresh the page and see this news. I guess it does make me feel justified that Veach sees Brown similarly to how I did and didn’t want to offer him a top LT deal.
Sadly, this is too blurry to read on my phone. Sum it up?
OBJ is in the lower right quadrant as the worst value LT in the NFL when comparing the pressures allowed per snap with his salary cap number in 2022.
Full explanation of this chart in my second-to-last paragraph, though I screwed up the linking and it isn’t displaying the charts in the post.
https://arrowheadguys.com/the-case-for-not-paying-orlando-brown-jr/
I was kind of under the impression that he was going to sit out the first of the year , if he didn’t get paid… at least we’re on top of it now instead of August September…
Didn’t someone just let go of a left tackle , Titans maybe?
Are OBJ’s demands so out there that no team was willing to trade even a 3rd round pick for him?
They were last year, so I doubt they’ve changed.
This whole situation is weird to me. How often is a pro bowl tackle just allowed to hit free agency with no tag?
Chiefs are really cutting their losses
So bring Wylie back and draft a LT with the 1st?
Another aspect is that it means we also can’t trade him. The best return we could get for him now is a late 2024 3rd rounder, so the team must have felt like nobody else would be willing to give up more than that for him if they franchised him.
This whole saga tells me that OBJ must be delusional about his own value. Veach and Brown must not even be in the same ballpark numbers wise.
Let him test the market. He probably wants more money than the Chiefs are willing to pay.
he certainly wants more money than he’s worth.
The best way to get paid more than you’re worth is to test the open market and let the tackle needy teams get into a bidding war.
I did not see that coming
“With the 31st pick in the draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select Joe Blow, Tackle”
Me either. Didn’t think it was that easy to replace a left tackle with a quality candidate
to be honest, I don’t thing we have ever had a really good LT in the Mahome years, just serviceable ones.