Chiefs: Is Orlando Brown Jr. Up to the Task?

The Kansas City Chiefs made perhaps the best move of the offseason when they traded with their conference rival, the Baltimore Ravens, for a player to shore up a position of great need, left tackle, by bringing Orlando Brown Jr. to the team. In fact, many an analyst were asking, “Why in the world would the Ravens trade away such a talent, especially to a conference rival who has owned them in recent years?” It’s still unclear as to why they would have done that, but if Brown’s performance in Training Camp is any indication — so far — the Chiefs may have been bamboozled.

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If you’ve followed ArrowheadOne, then you probably know about my rather enduring and exuberant Allegiance to the Chiefs, and more often than not, giving them the benefit of the doubt. However, as I’ve posted and reposted tweets and videos of Chiefs in Training Camp each morning, I have noticed a consistently inconsistent Orlando Brown when it comes to his effectively blocking nearly anyone they put in front of him. Even second and third stringers, and that’s given me the flu… as in, flummoxed. Also, before you decide that I must have been cherry picking-and-choosing negative clips for this piece, you should know that I have used every single clip I could find and most of them filmed and tweeted by either: Eddie High, Nate Taylor, KC Sports Report, or Tucker D. Franklin.

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To be clear, the position of Offensive Tackle is not my speciality, but I’ve been around the field enough times to raise questions when things look hinky. Before I open the Brown File, let me share with you a clip where he looks like he got it right, and you also get to see Patrick Mahomes throwing a pass one way, while looking the other. Brown is #57 on the left.

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It’s easy here to see that Brown is so tall, that he isn’t able to get into the crouching position that the rest of the OL is in. While that doesn’t sound like a problem, it could be. Offensive linemen who win at the line of scrimmage are typically able to get lower than their opponents, but since Brown is so tall, he usually just overpowers his opponents. I’m hoping against hope that Brown is a Gamer on game day and that practicing, just isn’t his cup of tea. Yesterday after practice, Brown was asked if there’s a switch he flips on game day, to which he replied:

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“Yea, 100%. I don’t want to say I’m a Gamer or anything like that because I think it’s kind of weird, but I definitely approach games differently. I feel as though… mmm, it’s just as you were saying, it’s a different switch when you get out there, and the lights are on, [it’s] just a different feel. You know, I mean, for some reason it’s a lot easier for me to let my emotions roll in a game like situation.”

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Yep. He’s a Gamer. Or at least, I have high hopes that this is the case. At his presser, Brown also discussed that he’s been working on specific skills and techniques, so his failings — if you want to call them that — may not be failings at all, but simply part of his process in learning a new system, and how he fits into that. Brown called the Chiefs system different from the Ravens, and said it’s a more traditional set up with influences from the college game mixed in. So, at least Brown has a growing awareness of the on-field changes required in his shift from Baltimore to K.C..

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Below, Brown goes up against Frank Clark and sets up with his left knee tucked inside, probably because Clark is lined up wide, likely taking a deep path to the QB, and Brown anticipates this, and at first believes he’ll have to kick his left leg straight backwards quickly. Clark starts heading deep then makes a move and tries to get back inside of Brown.

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In the middle of this play, Brown is crossed up and it effects his lateral movement or ability to mirror Clark. Here’s a screen capture from the middle of this play:

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Although I’m not an OT expert, getting your feet crossed up isn’t a good look. Here’s Lucas Niang on the opposite end going up against Mike Danna. I like the way Niang stays attached, mirroring Danna, even though Danna gets penetration, Niang shuffles his feet quickly sideways, well enough to stay in front of him, mostly.

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Since we’re talking about Mike Danna, let’s see how Brown does against him as well:

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This comparison is useful because Danna makes the same speed move against both OTs but while Niang is able to push him all the way down the line to the opposite Guard position, Brown is only able to push him to the Center, and since we know who is supposed to be right behind Center, that’s not a positive. Also, it looks like Brown is chasing Danna instead of pushing him away, the way Niang is attempting to do.

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Brown has had some good plays in practice as well. Everyone knows DE/DT Chris Jones is ripping it up in camp, and Seth Keysor, who wrote about Chris Jones yesterday in a piece called, “Chris Jones, a huge OL, and what actually matters: What I learned at the Chiefs’ 8/9 Training camp,” (subscription required) said,

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Jones flat-out ruined several 11×11 periods for the offense because they just couldn’t block him and Mahomes had to get out of the pocket (for the record, [Orlando] Brown did a better job with him on the one 11×11 rep I got a good look at. Niang just… well, he struggled with Jones).

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So, not everything Brown does has brought my scrutiny down upon his head. He’s still a top level run blocker and fans should remember that in Training, the passing game is more of a focus, because the running game can’t be practiced mostly while in shorts. Since we know half the practices are in shorts, it limits what each offensvie lineman can accomplish. Here, Brown does and excellent job of pulling ahead of Clyde Edwards-Helaire right between the Guards, and then opens up a can of whipped carcass on a LB.

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One aspect of Browns game that I’m hoping to see more of, is locking onto a DE and getting his hands inside of the DEs right into his chest area. Let’s take a look at Trey Smith locking up against Chris Jones (who’s destroying most everyone he faces in camp, so far). Here, Smith does a good job of hooking Jones, and although Jones is able to get a good amount of push on him, if Patrick Mahomes had been back there, he’d also have been able to navigate away from a defender who was tangled up with his OG.

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Here, Brown does a decent job against Frank Clark:

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When Brown goes up against Tim Ward on back-to-back reps, he looks like he gives a half-hearted effort. In the first one, he tries to push Ward upfield and on the second one he overreacts to an inside move and then again to a juke move by Ward, which gets him inside of Brown. I mentioned earlier that Brown was not successful against 2nd and 3rd team DEs either. Here, rookie Joshua Kaindoh uses a slap move to push Browns arms out of the way and if this had been a game, Kaindoh would have had a sack. Once again, not a good effort on Brown’s part.

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Lastly, Demone Harris, a 4th string defensive end on the Chiefs most recent depth chart, uses a similar swiping method, hitting downwards on Browns hands and then he gets around him, seemingly at will.

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I’m not so sure Brown wasn’t instructed to go easy on these guys, but if not — and I’d be surprised if that was true — it’s not a good look for the player the Chiefs traded away, 1st, 3rd, and 4th-round picks this year and a 5th-round pick next year for Brown and their 2021 2^nd round pick, and a 2022 6th-round pick.

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For a man who was rated as a first round pick, then a had a bad combine and fell to the third round… then turned into a Pro Bowl player at both the right tackle and left tackle positions… I will have patience.

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While the Chiefs gave up a lot of draft capital, they’re now loaded along the OL and if Brown doesn’t happen to work out this year, I’d predict that Lucas Niang moves there in 2022. However, I may be getting way ahead of myself. Way ahead, and it may also be a bit of folly on my part. Why? Orlando Brown gave up a total of 3 sacks in 2020 on 1,027 snaps. Also, “We talkin’ bout practice man”… as Allen Iverson used to say…

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Let’s see what Orlando Brown does this weekend vs. the 49ers in San Francisco, and presumably against Nick Bosa, then we’ll take another look at the man who says, “No one touches my quarterback.” For now, count me as a dazed, and scarcely concerned, citizen of the Kingdom.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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