[dirk digler]

Nothing earth shattering in this

How the Chiefs, Orlando Brown reached a likely separation — and where they go from here

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/sp...#storylink=cpy

Three weeks ago, as Chiefs players paraded down Grand Boulevard in downtown Kansas City, left tackle Orlando Brown wore a black shirt with white lettering, its message intended for anyone willing to listen.

0 sacks. Put it on a (bleeping) shirt.

Three weeks and a couple of days ago, Brown anchored an offensive line that had its best game on the biggest stage — holding the Eagles’ top-ranked pass rush to, well, zero sacks in a Super Bowl LVII win.

But today? In early March?

We’ve arrived at the luxury tax of the success.

Brown is set to test free agency next week after the Chiefs declined to place the franchise tag on him and instead pushed him toward the open market. The two sides had engaged in long-term contract negotiations as far back as a year ago, but some 20 games and a Super Bowl title later, little has changed in either stance.

Brown is an individual case, but there is perhaps no better symbol of the new world in which the Chiefs now operate. Because they would like to have Brown back. And he wants to return.

Yet here the Chiefs sit, willfully pointing him in the direction of free agency, where player destinations and starting points don’t typically align. The Chiefs technically have exclusive negotiating rights for another week, but the plan is to allow the rest of the league to weigh into this conversation.

This is who the Chiefs are now, and in some cases who they have to be — unwilling to stretch their budget, even if it means retaining their own. Even if it’s one of their own they actually want back.

The Chiefs have just four players scratching the ceiling of their respective positional compensation — quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, defensive tackle Chris Jones and left guard Joe Thuney. Would anyone argue those four aren’t still among the very best at their positions?

The Chiefs aren’t there with Brown. They agree he is a valuable piece. Mahomes’ $49 million cap number is a factor, though not the only factor as they take a step back and ask:

How valuable?

That’s a question the Chiefs will allow the remaining 31 teams to answer. And this won’t be the last time they do it. It is a recent trend, not an outlier. It’s the long-term over the short-term solution.

Brown, who turns 27 in two months, should eagerly await the reply, by the way. He will enter free agency as the best left tackle in a thin market and has been selected to Pro Bowls in each of his seasons in Kansas City after serving as a Pro Bowl right tackle in Baltimore. Some team out there is likely willing to pay him like it. Why should he settle for less? Rather, why settle for a lot less?

There doesn’t have to be a bad guy in every team and player divorce, because the Chiefs’ ability to pay does not equate to another team’s ability to pay or even their willingness to pay. Brown was ranked as the 10th-best left tackle in the NFL by Pro Football Focus among the 28 who played at least half their team’s snaps in 2022. There were 19 left tackles who recorded at least 1,000 snaps; Brown had 114 more than any of them, and he still tied for the third fewest sacks allowed (four) among that group.

Brown got a bad rap at times in Kansas City because the start was dicey, though the Chiefs spent a first-round pick to acquire him, and that appropriately entails a stiff grading curve. But he is a better than average left tackle. Nearly top-third of the league, if you’re inclined to follow the PFF scouting. He is a well-liked teammate, an outgoing and infectious personality. He now has a Super Bowl ring, too.

That type of resume doesn’t frequently roam the roads of free agency, but when it does, those players usually get paid above their means, then gradually fall down the ladder as other contracts top them. The compensation packages are rarely orderly. That’s how this works. The Chiefs didn’t want to spend even a year or two at the top of that rung.

But there is no reason why Brown shouldn’t ask for top dollar, because it takes only one team to climb on board. And if you’re in need of a left tackle this year, your data is going to point to Brown.

The NFL will dictate his price, not the Chiefs, who have not budged since last offseason’s stance of going light on the guaranteed money over a long-term deal. Brown has played another Pro Bowl season and ended this one with a ring. The Chiefs’ value of the player remains unchanged, independently of the salary cap, though the salary cap is not exactly a non-factor in their blueprints.

To the end, that entire mixture prompts a likely separation, even if both sides have agreed to leave the door open.

What next?

It’s actually hard to envision the Chiefs lining up a better left tackle in Week 1 than Brown, though it’s wiser to make this decision now, when free agency, trade opportunities and the NFL Draft occupy the meat of a sandwich covered by the actual games. The market is bare outside of Brown.

Some of the Chiefs’ decisions in the Patrick Mahomes Era will be driven by best option, others by most cost-effective option. It would not be out of Brett Veach’s personality to scour the trade market. He comes equipped with a surplus of picks.

Looking for, well, what he is likely on the verge of losing.

If the price is right.