Orlando Brown Jr. was allowed to walk by the Chiefs and now the offensive tackle has arrived with one of Kansas City’s biggest rivals, the Bengals.
The Orlando Brown Jr. offensive tackle market was a bit baffled as NFL free agency officially kicked off on Wednesday. The Kansas City Chiefs opted not to award the franchise a marked left tackle and apparently replaced him by signing Joanne Taylor. Besides, there wasn’t much word about where the Browns were likely to go or which teams were interested.
Now he has a touchdown spot and a new deal, one that will make the budding rivalry between Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals and Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs even more exciting.
According to NFL insider Tom Bellicero, the Bengals are signing the Browns to a four-year, $64.092 million deal with a monster signing bonus of $31 million and, reportedly, a lot of cash preloaded into the contract.
SOURCES: Four-time Pro Bowl facing and Super Bowl champ Orlando Brown Jr. finalizes a four-year, $64.092 million deal with the #Bengals that includes a signing bonus of over $31 million — the largest ever for a businessman.
Brown’s agent, Michael Portner, confirmed the deal. pic.twitter.com/GFFZX0zLrs
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 16, 2023
NFL rumours: Former OT Chiefs Orlando Brown Jr. joins rival Bengals
This is sure to add more fire to the budding rivalry between the Chiefs and Bengals as he will now protect Burrow instead of Mahomes. However, Cincinnati was able to give Brown the money and, more importantly, the position he wanted.
Much has been made in recent days about many teams around the NFL seeing Brown as a right tackle. The veteran remained adamant, though, that he wanted to play on the left side, which Mike Garafolo reported was the plan at Cincinnati.
This is a deal for Orlando Brown to play left tackle. He was adamant that he wanted to stay there. The #Bengals will let him do that and play an opponent who can take on the #Chiefs in the postseason. https://t.co/m7AsXeZUJv
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 16, 2020
Brown is an undeniable upgrade for the Bengals, though they can now open Jonah Williams or La’el Collins inside to guard along with Alex Cappa and Ted Karras on the inside, making the line deeper and stronger overall. This is key to Burrow’s long-term success and this offense.
And that should make future boss encounters even more fun to watch.
