Chiefs Short Take: Waiting for About 15 Hours to Pass

You know what I mean by about 15 hours… soon, it will be the 11th Hour.

My latest view about Brown can play on $16.6M or get reasonable and work a long-term deal that benefits himself and the Chiefs. Unfortunately, he apparently thinks he holds the cards in the hole that makes his bid for $23M, which will become a reality. I sure hope that Brett Veach doesn’t yield to that nonsense.

Further? If Veach stands on the offer about which we know nothing or if he sticks with the Tag amount, That puts the pressure on OBJr. Brown appears to believe he has the power. Brown can sign the tag or sit out a year. He should sign or accept whatever offer that has been made.Further, I think OBJr sits out of camp if KC sticks to the tag approach, but it won’t work. He is a prima donna and not a top LOT in the NFL. That’s a proven fact by the stats. He is the 9th most well-paid among the top 10 OTs with the tag.

Player Age 2022 comp Yr of F/A

Trent Williams 49ers 34 $23,010,000.00 2027

David Bakhtiari Packers 31 $23,000,000.00 2025

Laremy Tunsil Texans 28 $22,000,000.00 2024

Ronnie Stanley Ravens 28 $19,750,000.00 2026

Jake Matthews Falcons 30 $18,500,000.00 2027

Kolton Miller Raiders 27 $18,005,000.00 2026

Cam Robinson Jaguars 27 $17,583,333.00 2025

Garett Bolles Broncos 30 $17,000,000.00 2025

Orlando Brown Chiefs 26 $16,662,000.00 2023

Taylor Lewan Titans 31 $16,000,000.00 2024

As you can see, OBJr ranks #9 with the tag amount used for his Compensation.

Further, if he doesn’t sign and sits in hold-out, it says a ton about his team fit with team camaraderie. It tells me he doesn’t fit the Chiefs’ Persona. Int won’t look good to the rest of the NFL organizations. If he doesn’t sign, he sits a whole year, and the Chiefs get a compensation draft pick in that event. The Chiefs could trade him, but who will want a player like that among NFL Franchises?

For 2023, the cap hit for an OT is 21.2. He gets no money if he decides to sit a year. For this year, the top 5 determine the amount of money for the tag. Those five players are listed above. But to review again: Williams and Baktiari have $23M salaries. Next is Tunsil at $22M, Stanley, and Matthews at $19.5M, and $18.5M, respectively. That totals to $106M, or if using the five-player average, the amount would be $21.2M. I feel sure that Veach offered a contract in negotiations somewhere near that figure, and even then, it presumes that Brown’s 2021 performance, Left Tackle or not, is such that it earns him that remuneration. We know that his performance numbers ranked far lower than the top five players in the game(PFF rating, for example.

It’s best for the team and for the player both to come to a rational number and agree on it. For Brown, $23-25m is not reasonable. In 2023, Brown will be 27, another year closer to that 30-year-old mark. He is not doing himself a favor in these negotiations, and I wrote about him as a drama queen yesterday and a prima donna. I am quite sure ardent fans of the off-season season have grown ill to death with Brown’s attitude.

Chiefs fans have grown exceedingly more intemperate with Brown as time has marched forward, including things Brown has said himself. I know that I am in that crowd, too. No Chiefs fan or close follower wants to see Brown fail to sign up for a long-term deal. But, at the same time, the pay-him-no-matter-what idea flew out the window finally, with Justi Houston, Eric Berry, and Anthony Hitchens.

Brown either becomes a Chief, or What?

The “Or What” is the operative problem. We are all waiting on the hour hand.

David Bell — ArrowheadOne