Chiefs players who need to improve performance after bye week

Orlando Brown

With all of the preseason drama that Orlando Brown presented to the Chiefs through his holdout and astonishing contract demands, it is truly surprising to see how mediocre he has played. For anyone who needs a reminder, Brown held out of OTA’s and the beginning of training camp while negotiating a new contract. His agent—whose credibility was previously limited to a high-school term paper—put together a package that would have reset the left tackle market with Orlando Brown as the highest paid in football. Brett Veach countered with an offer that was seemingly more than fair, but it was declined.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and with the way Brown’s season has started, he may have been better off taking Veach’s offer. According to PFF, Brown has never finished a season among the top 20 tackles in the league, and he is currently ranked as the 49th overall tackle. Thus far in 2022, he has been credited with 24 pressures allowed, four QB hits surrendered, and a sack. For context, Ronnie Stanley—who the Baltimore Ravens chose to play LT over Brown—is the leading tackle in all of football right now. He has allowed zero sacks, zero QB hits, and just two pressures.

On one hand, the Chiefs have played a number of the league’s toughest defensive lines through their first seven games, but on the other, Orlando Brown proclaimed himself as the best left tackle in the league this offseason. For the sake of Patrick Mahomes’ health and his own potential to earn another contract with Kansas City, Orlando Brown needs to improve his performance after the bye week.