Orlando Brown, Isaiah Wilson among tackle trade targets for KC Chiefs

Orlando Brown, Ravens

Orlando Brown is an exceptional performer for the Baltimore Ravens outside, a still very young player who has already earned two Pro Bowl nods at right tackle and who is ready to be rewarded handsomely for his efforts. He’s also a likely candidate to leave the very team that drafted and developed him.

The Ravens are not without offensive line concerns of their own, but at this point, they’ve backed themselves into a bit of a talent corner. Well, Brown has actually put them in such a spot.

The Ravens already have one of the best left tackles in football in Ronnie Stanley, who was unfortunately injured for most of last season. The team has already locked him up to a lucrative long-term extension (which no one should second guess). At the same time that Stanley was ascending to greatness at left tackle, the Ravens were nurturing Brown on the right side as a promising young tackle now playing for the very team his father played for—a wonderful, heartening story. That is, until Brown decided it wasn’t enough for him.

Brown is technically under his rookie contract through 2022, but he has his mind set on playing at left tackle in the NFL from here on out. He switched to the left side for the Ravens in the wake of Stanley’s injury this season, and he’s made his demands very clear that he wants to play the position and be paid like it. Suddenly, the Ravens went from being set for years to come to needing to make some moves.

This is the all-in option for the Chiefs, if they feel that depending on two rehabbing 30-something players at the tackle positions is ludicrous. Brown is not going to be cheap to acquire or keep. He’s also clearly an opinionated player who isn’t afraid to create waves in order to get his way.  That said, Brown is also a two-time Pro Bowl player who is only 24-years-old with the versatility to play either tackle spot and be a franchise cornerstone going forward.

If the Chiefs felt like Brown wasn’t going to be a locker room cancer once acquired and paid, this might be the way to go given how rare of a chance it is to find such a bright young talent at such a key position on a team’s roster. Think about how teams regularly try to grab top-tier tackles near the top of the draft. Reflect on how rarely they’re ever traded in their prime. Last year, the 49ers traded 3rd and 5th round picks for a 31-year-old Trent Williams who was injured the entire previous season.

This trade would undoubtedly cost the Chiefs their first round choice in the upcoming draft and likely some more. It would also mean the likely departure of either Fisher or Schwartz given the finances involved. Perhaps all parties could co-exist in 2021 given that Brown is still on a rookie deal, but with the presence of Lucas Niang from last year’s draft, it makes no real sense to keep everyone around.

You also have to wonder if the Ravens would want to give Brown to the Chiefs given they’re competing for the same path to the Super Bowl.