FYI: Chiefs Are Expected To Use Franchise Tag On Left Tackle Orlando Brown
14 repliesNate Taylor, who covers the Chiefs for The Athletic, is reporting that the Chiefs will likely use the franchise tag on Orlando Brown. While it’s not official yet (hence this not being Breaking News), I still wanted to bring it to people’s attention since this is one of the big questions of the offseason.
Personally, I think this is the right decision. As I’ve been contemplating what the Chiefs should do over a hot bowl of kettle corn, franchise tagging Brown seemed like the obvious move at left tackle. There aren’t many sure things out there at the position in free agency (in fact, Walter Football has Brown ranked as the top free agent tackle), but his play has been too inconsistent to feel comfortable giving him the market-defining contract that he’s demanding.
At $20 million, it is hard to argue against it, given that a long term deal will likely average $24 million or more. A franchise tag is not only cheaper, but buys the team a little bit of time to potentially find a more consistent, or at least cheaper, replacement.
Another variable in this discussion is that Humphrey and Trey Smith are going to be due for extensions next offsesaon. Thuney’s cap hit the next 2 years is north of 20 mill.
We can’t spend all of our money on the oline.
why not?
Hopefully someone offers us a trade for him. Players usually end up disgruntled if they have to play on the tag 2 years in a row. He seems like a great team mate and he is a good left tackle, but it would be a mistake to pay him like a great player.
I would be happy if we could trade him for a 2nd, but would settle for a 3rd plus some other pick. Then I would use those picks to trade up in the 1st to find his replacement.
If we tag him again, he would be nuts to sign before the third tag. This is the game Cousins played with DC, and they couldn’t afford that 3rd tag, and it pushed the floor of his asking price through the roof. Tag him if we really only want one year out of him. LT might be our #1 pick.
and I’m down with however Veach makes it all play out, not that I could do anything about it all anyway
“you’ll get what we give you and you WILL like it” – Someone Somewhere
right
the Chiefs want him to be gruntled, not disgruntled (hell, I’d pissesd pff too if I had to play for ONLY $16-$20M/yr)
OBJr is a strange case. He performed well at the end but he didn’t do well to start. I feel like we need to draft his replacement but if no one good is available, the franchise tag seems the best route. But that could turn ugly. I’m glad I’m not Veach. I have my hands full running the vast Burt’s Vodka empire as it is.
This is going to be one of the key issues of the offseason. If we franchise Brown and don’t get a deal in place before the deadline, I would expect him to sit out for a long time, maybe up through the first few games of the season. I think Veach expects this, too, so if they don’t come to terms with Brown before the deadline, I would expect them to move on from him this year like they did with Ford a few years ago. They either trade him for a replacement player, or they go after someone in the draft and pay a fill-in.
I think Brown has turned out to be a good fit for this team and I think he clearly likes being here, but the Tyreek trade shows me he’s well aware of what his limits need to be. Brown is still a very good player, and based on his age, he should still continue to improve as a player. But one of the easiest ways to hurt your team is paying a player well above what he contributes – i.e. Anthony Hitchens, an OK 2-down LB, but payed like a top 3-down LB. I think Veach has learned that lesson.
somehow I doubt he sits out and loses to chance to make $20M … would be nice to see the two sides come together on a 5-yr or whatever deal (5 yrs @ 20-21-22 M etc with 75M guaranteed, just tossing out numbers) but we all know “it’s a business” and it doesn’t always work out the way we’d like
I miss the days when players would say “gosh, I’d play for free if they’d let me” … uh huh, and that’s happened HOW many times? (given the other $$$ they make on endorsements and jerseys and such, I honestly see no “need” for these guys to “break the bank”)
I don’t mean that I think Brown would sit out the season, just until the end of training camp or preseason (which would mean he probably wouldn’t be ready to play the first couple of games of the regular season). I just think Veach wants to avoid having an unhappy Brown around to hurt the team, and Brown wants, and has earned, some level of security. Whether they can make that work in KC is the question.
this^^^
If I remember correctly, Priest Holmes played more because he loved the game than because he was financing a fourth beach house in Malibu.
need MOAR like that … for sure 🙂
would love to get Brown, Juju, Hardman, Jet and a few others back on “team-friendly” contracts and keep it all rolling
As a fan, I wish they would all play for something that lets us keep the team together. As a fellow worker bee, get everything you can, my friend, because they will kick you to the curb in a heartbeat.