Chiefs Won’t Franchise LT Orlando Brown Jr.

According to Ian Rapoport, the Chiefs do not plan to use the franchise tag on LT Orlando Brown Jr., which comes as a bit of a surprise. 

The deadline for the tag is tomorrow, so that means Brown has a path to unrestricted free agency if he doesn’t agree to an extension with Kansas City between now and the start of the league year on March 15. 

This would have been the second straight year on the tag for Brown after he played out the 2022 season on the tender. The tag would have been just over $20 million fully guaranteed for the 2023 season. 

Brown, 26, was a third-round pick by the Ravens out of Oklahoma back in 2018. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $3.49 million rookie deal that included a signing bonus of $865,720 when he was traded to the Chiefs in exchange for a package that included a first-round pick. 

Brown Jr. was set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022 when the Chiefs placed the franchise tag on him at a sum of $16.6 million. 

In 2021, Brown appeared in all 17 games for the Chiefs and made 17 starts at left tackle. He was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 19 tackle out of 81 qualifying players. 

We have him listed in our Top 100 2023 NFL Free Agents list.