Why the Kansas City Chiefs are ‘likely’ to utilize franchise tag on Orlando Brown Jr.
Deadlines drive action in the NFL, and there’s one closing in on the Chiefs.
The league’s franchise-tag window, which opened Feb. 22, closes March 8 in advance of the start of the NFL’s new calendar year.
The Chiefs appear on track to utilize the tag on starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who played the 2021 season in the final year of his rookie contract.
“With Orlando, I’m sure that’s likely,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said Tuesday at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine. “We’re going to work hard to get a deal with him.”
Applying the franchise tag on Brown would carry a projected $16.5 million price tag. If Brown signs it, the Chiefs and Brown will have until mid-July to work out a long-term contract. In the event a long-term deal isn’t reached by that time, Brown would play the 2022 season under the franchise tag.
Either scenario would be well-spent money because of what the Chiefs gave up to secure Brown’s services last season. They sent the Baltimore Ravens their first-, third- and fourth-round picks last year, plus a 2022 fifth-round pick in exchange for Brown, a 2021 second-round pick and a 2022 sixth-round pick.
To put it bluntly, the Chiefs aren’t looking at the 25-year-old Brown as a one-year rental.
“We expect him to be our left tackle moving forward,” Veach said recently.
Since entering the league in 2018 out of Oklahoma as a third-round pick with the Ravens, Brown has developed into one of the NFL’s top tackles. He’s earned three straight Pro Bowl selections — two with the Ravens, one with the Chiefs.
Brown anchored the left side of the Chiefs’ revamped offensive line in 2021 and protected quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ blind side.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Why the Kansas City Chiefs are ‘likely’ to utilize franchise tag on Orlando Brown Jr.."
