KC Chiefs: Orlando Brown has come on strong as of late

K.C. Chiefs left tackle Orlando Brown was one of the most highly-anticipated newcomers of the 2021 season.

After spending his first three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Brown requested a trade due to his personal quest of wanting to play left tackle exclusively. Brown played left tackle sparingly for the Ravens in relief of Ronnie Stanley, but Stanley was always going to be the left tackle over Brown when healthy.

A match made in heaven, the Chiefs were in need of a stout left tackle after the release of Eric Fisher and the draft was always going to be a shot in the dark. So, the Chiefs agreed to trade their first-round pick along with a few other assets for the young star.

Orlando Brown has been coming on for KC Chiefs in recent weeks.

However, there were concerns about whether or not Brown would be able to transition to a completely different scheme. The Chiefs offense would be asking Brown to drop back and be on an island a lot more which is a drastic change from the Ravens offense which was run-heavy and allowed Brown to get upfield and go to work often.

For a lot of fans, those doubts were confirmed early on in the season. Brown would tie his career-high in pressures allowed in week 1 against Myles Garrett with 5 pressures given up and he has already given up 30 pressures so far in 2021. However, taking a closer look at Brown’s splits will have many Chiefs fans encouraged on how he’s coming along.

Brown struggled early, giving up 11 pressures weeks 1-4, on the flip side Brown has only given up 19 pressures since then.

It was clear Brown needed time to adjust to dropping back so much in a pass-heavy offense. Furthermore, Patrick Mahomes, in particular, is known for taking abnormally deep drop-backs which did not help his offensive line out very much including Brown who would be consistently left on an island.

A lot of fans were hard on Brown early, and they had reason to be frustrated, but it would now appear that the chemistry between him and Mahomes has developed and Brown has improved his kick step and gotten used to Mahomes’ tendencies. Thanks to his improvement, Brown is currently being rewarded a 76.8 overall grade by PFF which ranks 12th among all left tackles.

We all knew Brown was a great run-blocker and he has put on a show along with the other newcomers along the Chiefs offensive line in the run game, but Brown taking this step can really solidify the offensive line and eventually make Brown viewed as one of the best all-around tackles in the NFL.

For those that were hard on him early in the year, you have to give him his credit now that he is playing well and he has been a pleasure to watch as it appears he is playing a lot more comfortable and putting defensive lineman on the ground a lot more than he was early on.