Kansas City Chiefs: Orlando Brown would be nice addition to offensive line

The Kansas City Chiefs need help on the offensive line and it just so happens that Orlando Brown is available.

One of the most glaring weaknesses on the offensive side of the ball for the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV was their offensive line, which was banged up beyond belief. This patch-worked offensive line led to Patrick Mahomes, scrambling for over 400 yards, but not actually traveling downfield, rather just trying to stay alive and find time to make a pass.

The Chiefs head into the offseason with their Super Bowl loss and the offensive line should be at the top of their list of concerns. If they want to find one of the best possible names to add at the tackle position, Orlando Brown, currently of the Ravens, is a player to watch.

Brown wants to be traded from Baltimore — per Ian Rapoport — so that he can play left tackle, which is his preferred position.

Sources: #Ravens OT Orlando Brown wants to be traded. After tweeting his desire to only play left tackle – he filled in there for Ronnie Stanley and shined this season – Brown will only play for a team that will play him at his preferred spot. Baltimore would need a major haul.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 10, 2021

Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz were the Chiefs’ two starting tackles heading into the 2020 season, but both of these gentlemen ended up missing time due to injuries. I am not too keen on replacing Schwartz, seeing as how he is one of the most decorated O-linemen in this current era of Chiefs football. He has had multiple honors bestowed upon him and is an integral piece of the Chiefs offensive line.

The Kansas City Chiefs should replace Fisher with Orlando Brown.

Despite John McCarty of KC Kingdom urging the Chiefs to stay away from Brown, this is a move Kansas City absolutely has to make. Brown has seen success, not only in college, but coming out of college, being selected in the third round of the draft by the Ravens, and some believed to be the biggest steal in the draft. He has done very well for the Ravens, which is evident in the fact that Brown is the one requesting the trade, not the team.

While Fisher has had a great career in Kansas City, he has been somewhat prone to injuries the last couple of seasons, being limited to only eight games during the Chiefs’ 2019 Super Bowl run, and is now suffering from a torn Achilles. Of course, it is hoped that Fisher will make a full recovery, but a torn Achilles can wreak havoc on a career, and his return is not a guarantee.

Were Fisher to return from his injury, then his contract becomes a point of discussion.

Fisher signed a four-year contract with the Chiefs back in 2016, with a fifth-year option that the Chiefs did pick up, so his contract is going to be placed on the bargaining table if he remains on the Chiefs roster.

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Orlando Brown signed a four-year, 3.45 million dollar contract with the Ravens in May of 2018. It is likely that the Chiefs would have to acquire a portion of that contract, but it would probably be roughly the same amount of a cap hit as it would be to keep Fisher around, possibly even less.

In other words, it would cost the Chiefs relatively the same amount to acquire an offensive lineman that is of the same caliber as Fisher and believed to be even better. Now, it would be a trade, so the Chiefs have to give to get.

Well for starters, they could trade Fisher if the Ravens were interested, which could be tricky considering he was recently injured. But, he’s a former No. 1 overall pick and has really played well in recent years.

Is Orlando Brown worth a first-round draft pick? Probably not, but would it be worth a second or third-rounder to give Mahomes the protection he needs, absolutely. Unless I am reading the Chiefs wrong, I do believe the Chiefs will be addressing the needs of the offensive line in the upcoming draft anyway, and acquiring Brown might be a way of doing so, and begin solving this issue before the draft even approaches.

Another issue we see with Fisher is his propensity for attracting flags. It is rarely with something flagrant, but I have heard the nickname “False Start Fisher” float around Chiefs Kingdom a time or two. That being said, in his college career, Brown did have an issue with getting a little too worked up and seemed to struggle to keep his composure, but that was as a young college kid, not a professional football player who has been in the league for three years.

Not only do all these reasons above make sense for acquiring Brown, even if it means getting rid of Fisher, but Brown is quite literally just bigger than Fisher is. Fisher is 6’7″, and weighs in at 315 pounds, whereas Brown is 6’8″ and clocks in at 355 pounds, meaning that the Chiefs left tackle position would be occupied by the incredible Hulk, offering an additional 1 inch and 40 pounds of protection for the Chiefs precious cargo which is Patrick Mahomes.

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Barring the possible issue with penalties, I see no reason why signing Brown to protect Mahomes would have any downside. I don’t believe he would be much of a cap hit and he would absolutely be an upgrade at the position.

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