Chiefs Tag Orlando Brown, Jr.

The Chiefs Gave Brown the Non-Exclusive Tender

On Monday evening the Kansas City Chiefs gave Orlando Brown, Jr. the non-exclusive franchise tag. This is step one for the Chiefs this off-season and there are several more steps coming before free agency opens up on March 16. With this move, the Chiefs are on the hook for the tag amount of $16.662 million for 2022.

With this being the non-exclusive franchise tender it’s possible the Chiefs could lose Brown to another team though it is extremely unlikely for the price. The Chiefs would be eligible to receive two first-round picks if a team is able to sign Brown to a contract and the Chiefs decide not to match it. Again this is highly unlikely and the probability is that Brown will be protecting Mahomes’ blindside for quite some time.

Here are a couple of updates on Brown and what we could see in the coming months:

Matt Derrick @mattderrick

The NFL salary cap will be $208.2 million for 2022 season, on target with expectations. Today's NFL transaction report doesn't have the Chiefs placing a tag on LT Orlando Brown. Deadline is 3 p.m. CT Tuesday, with the franchise tag carrying a $16.662 million salary for an OL.

With the salary cap set for the season, the franchise tag amounts have also been set. Until Brown signs a long-term deal he will count $16.662 million against the Chiefs cap for 2022. They have until July 15, 2022 to work out a long-term deal which I expect will get done.

James Palmer @JamesPalmerTV

A few things with the #chiefs and LT Orlando Brown Jr. - They’ve been planning on tagging him and are pretty confident they can sign him long term this offseason. - They expect that to take some time. - Last season was his first at LT and allowed 4 sacks in 715 pass block snaps

Palmer has been covering the Chiefs for a while and there are a couple of big items in this tweet. First, this is all a part of their plan and they believe they can get a deal done with him. But the biggest part is the sacks he allowed in 715 pass-blocking snaps. Brown struggled early in the season but he played much better at the end of the season and in the playoffs.

Mike Garafolo @MikeGarafolo

I spoke to Jammal Brown, former NFL OT and mentor to Orlando Brown Jr. Jammal told me Orlando is deciding whether to represent himself or hire an agent. He won't sign the franchise tag until that gets sorted out. Also has a charity event in late March so his focus is on that too.

Mike Garafolo @MikeGarafolo

Jammal on Orlando, tagged by the #Chiefs today: “He wants to be in Kansas City and wants to sign a long-term deal there. He wants Kansas City to understand he's the type of player who can be there for the rest of his career. He's a cornerstone left tackle.”

Looking at this same move from Brown’s perspective and it seems like he is going to be ok with being tagged. He may not sign for a while as he’s not going to be in any kind of rush with training camp months away at the end of July. It sounds like Brown is going to take his time deciding on whether or not he wants an agent so I don’t think this is going to be done before the draft.

The other part that will play into the timing of the signing is the cap space needed to come to a long-term deal. Right now the Chiefs are likely to restructure Mahomes’ contract to make the space but that doesn’t allow them to be big spenders in free agency. With that in mind, the likelihood is Brown’s signing may not end up happening before Frank Clark’s likely June 1st cap move takes effect.

There are a lot of moving parts for this off-season and this is likely just the first domino. We will see what the Chiefs have in store in the coming week as they have several free agents of their own I would expect them to resign before free agency officially kicks off.