Three important questions for Chiefs and Orlando Brown Jr.’s future

Let’s look at a few important questions facing the Kansas City Chiefs and Orlando Brown Jr. as they move forward together—maybe.

At this point, the shock has likely worn off.

Despite the positive public-facing sentiments toward each other for weeks and months, left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and the Kansas City Chiefs were unable to work out a long-term contract extension before the NFL’s set date of July 15. Just like that, the Chiefs found themselves with a new set of worries and/or questions with some interesting media posturing in the works as well. (We’ll get to that.)

It’s not that there weren’t signs in the hours before the franchise tag deadline. Word broke that Brown was willing to leave the table because the two sides weren’t close in negotiations but the sources were questionable. Then came more substantive reports stating that the sides were locked into their respective positions of Brown wanting top-tier money to reset the market and the Chiefs wanting to pay him commensurate with his status within the pecking order at his position—to make him well-paid but not above the likes of Trent Williams.

At this point, the Chiefs and Brown must move forward into the unknown. What we do know is this:

• The Chiefs still control the rights to Brown’s ability to play professional football for this year.
• The Chiefs hold the leverage to do this all over again due to the franchise tag (b/c even then, Brown is cheaper).
• Both sides cannot come back to the table for negotiations until the ’22 season is over.
• Brown is still the best option for the Chiefs at left tackle by far.

This leaves the Chiefs with a potentially uncomfortable scenario moving forward. And, at the very least, there are some important questions that await answers with training camp and the start of the preseason just around the corner.

Will Orlando Brown Jr. report to training camp on time?

This is the biggest question on the surface for both sides and it doesn’t have any easy answers.

For Brown, this is the only way to flex any leverage and even then it isn’t real (we’ll get to that, too). But Brown has made his stand and now he has to live with it. If he’s really frustrated with the Chiefs’ offer, then there’s only one way to show it for a player without any real leverage or other options: to hold out from team activities.

The problem for Brown at this stage is that it really only works against the player to sit out. Brown has only received the pay of a rookie wage scale until now, and despite the fact he hates the franchise tag, it’s rewarding him handsomely for his efforts in the league so far. Brown has made $6.87 million in four seasons in the NFL between Baltimore and Kansas City. This coming year, he’s going to make nearly three times that amount. Is Brown really going to sit out into the regular season when each game allows him to pocket nearly $1 million apiece (remember game checks are split over the course of the regular season)?