The Kansas City Chiefs vs Cincinnati. Bengals has become one of the best NFL rivalries today. Now, it will have even stronger emotions tied into it thanks to Orlando Brown Jr. signing with the Bengals in NFL free agency.
Brown Jr., a 6-foot-8 left tackle, spent the last two years with the Chiefs. He protected Patrick Mahomes‘ blindside, anchored the left side of one of the NFL’s best offensive lines and built strong relationships in the locker room.
Kansas City attempted to sign Brown Jr. to a contract extension multiple times over the last year. When they couldn’t agree on terms early this spring, the Chiefs declined to use the franchise tag on him. It allowed the 26-year-old to hit the open market.
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Before Brown Jr. signed with Cincinnati, the Chiefs showed they were ready to move on by signing Jawaan Taylor to a four-year, $80 million contract. Despite Taylor having no experience at left tackle, he landed a bigger contract than Brown Jr. (four years, $64 million).
While the move might benefit Kansas City in the long run, letting Brown Jr. walk and losing him to their biggest AFC rival seems to have dealt a small blow to the locker room.
Appearing on the New Heights podcast, tight end Travis Kelce explained what it was like to see Brown Jr. leave Kansas City to sign with the Bengals.
“It hurts. It hurts my soul, man. Hurts my soul. It’s like watching your best friend just turn evil on you.”
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on losing Orlando Brown Jr. to the Cincinnati Bengals
It was an easy move for the Bengals to make. After initial reports suggest Brown Jr. wanted to be one of the highest-paid NFL players at his position, he now ranks 10th amongst left tackles in average annual value ($16.023 million). The Bengals upgraded their offensive line, providing more protection for Joe Burrow and improved their run blocking.
The move should make the Bengals’ offense even better next season, meaning it will be even more challenging for Kansas City to beat them. As Kelce said, the Chiefs already struggled to beat Cincinnati and now his former teammate is on the other side of the rivalry.
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“It’s tough man. Obviously, I mean, the past like two years we’ve struggled beating the Bengals. So there’s been a lot of like build up in emotion of like, I would say, not necessarily hate but just like dislike towards the Bengals because they keep beating us, and they keep talking about it every time they do. So it’s like, man, to see him go to the dark side, man, it’s an awkward feeling”
Travis Kelce on the rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals
Only time will tell whether or not the Chiefs made the correct move at left tackle by swapping out Brown Jr. for Taylor. If the decision backfires, it’s evident there will be a few players in the locker room with questions for the front office.