The Kansas City Chiefs traded a first-round pick in 2021 to the Baltimore Ravens for Orlando Brown Jr., confident the offensive tackle could protect Patrick Mahomes and that he would sign a contract extension.
As the team now prepares for the 2022 season, Kansas City appears to be experiencing some of the same frustrations Baltimore did a year ago. After keeping the 6-foot-8 tackle off the open market this offseason by using the franchise tag, negotiations between the two sides took a turn.
Brown, entering his age-28 season, still hasn’t signed his franchise tender with the team. It allows him to skip training camp as a holdout without receiving the daily $50,000 fine. Furthermore, he could even drag things out into the regular season.
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Brown and the Chiefs had until the July 15 deadline to agree to a contract extension, otherwise, he must play out the season on the franchise tag. While there was some dialogue in the final hours, they were never close on a long-term deal.
According to NFL Network‘s Jeffri Chadiha (H/T Pete Grathoff of The Kansas City Star), the Chiefs are frustrated about how contract talks with Brown went down and believe he wanted too much money from the organization.
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“There was frustration and there was disappointment. They really like Orlando Brown Jr., they love having him be a part of this team, but the money he was asking for was too high for them. They feel like they don’t want to not have stability at left tackle here, but they also don’t want to pay top-of-the-market money for a player that they don’t think is the best player at his position in the NFL.
Jeffri Chadiha on Kansas City Chiefs frustration with Orlando Brown Jr (H/T Pete Grathoff of The Kansas City Star)
Latest on Kansas City Chiefs offer to Orlando Brown Jr
The first terms of the contract proposed by the Chiefs would have made Brown one of the highest paid NFL players at his position. At first glance, the six-year deal worth $139 million met the parameters Brown was looking for.
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However, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network later provided important information on the offer. Kansas City essentially created the sixth year to inflate the value of the contract, tacking on an additional $40 million. In reality, the Chiefs proposed a five-year contract worth just over $91 million.
Brown views himself as a left tackle, it’s why he demanded a trade out of Baltimore and landed in Kansas City. He held up well on the left side of the Chiefs’ offensive line in 2021 and the front office clearly wants to ensure Mahomes is protected with a premium left tackle.
However, the $18.2 million AAV would have put him far behind his peers. Trent Williams ($23.01 million AAV), David Bakhtiari ($23 million AAV) and Laremy Tunsil ($22 million AAV) all average more than $20 million per year on their current contracts.
Given teams are projecting the NFL salary cap to skyrocket in the years ahead, Orlando Brown might have the right idea. While Kansas City is confident that offering an $18 million AAV with a lot of guaranteed money is fair, the young left tackle knows he is protecting the face of the franchise and the Chiefs need to pay market value for their insurance if they want to protect Mahomes.
After trading away Tyreek Hill this offseason over a disagreement with his asking price, Kansas City now faces the possibility of a future separation with its left tackle. Once viewed as a potential NFL dynasty, the Chiefs are now fighting in the AFC and things could get worse next year.