At this point, it's about the total price tag. You aren't going to make Orlando Brown one of the highest paid tackles in the league. It's not time for that yet.

This team has a lot of work to do with money in the offseason. I'm still of mindset that you tag Brown, work out a deal with Matthieu that's equitable for both sides, and get rid of Clark.
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Fixed that for you.
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Thing is, even if you make him the highest paid LT, that's gonna last for an season at most til it's the next guys turn. Is he the best LT in the league? No. Is he a really good young LT? Yeah.


And those are hard as shit to find. So once you find one, you keep him.
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Isn't Hitchens already on the last year of his deal?
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This scenario is almost EXACTLY why the NFL created the franchise tag. I'm not suggesting letting him go but having him play one year on the tag gives the team flexibility in handling other money issues in 2022 and then worrying about Brown when it's easier to absorb.

Frank Clark is the beaver dam that's holding back the entire creek. They have to move him before they do anything else, IMO.
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One year left. Signed a 5 year deal.

His Dead Cap is like $4.2 million if we cut him.
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The tag just eats up such a big chunk that can't be moved around. It gives you another year to make sure I suppose though, but IMO, on these things, the sooner you can get it done the better longterm.
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Nope.
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Pretty brutal when you're looking at a WR, LT and safety who all want to be paid the most in the NFL. Although Mathieu's stock has been dropping a bit lately.
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Then move on. I just assumed he was gone anyway.
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The thing about the tag is that while it is a big chunk of change, it's a fixed and finite cost. It's much easier to budget around that than a multi-year deal and they already have a ton of deals they have to get done.

I'm not going to be disappointed if they sign him long-term. I just think the tag makes more sense right now.
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Easy decision though if you can only keep 2 of the 3.
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I'd go ahead and make him the 2nd highest paid T in the league.

Trent Williams is the highest; $23 million for 6 years. But Trent Williams is an alien. He's just amazing at everything. Pass, run, power, speed - there are NO answers to Trent Williams. He's the most dominant OT since Pace.

After him comes Ronnie Staley at 5 yrs/$19.75 milion/season. He signed his deal at 26 yrs old.

I'd give Brown the same AAV as Stanley over 6 years to get it done. The caps gonna keep going up and Stanley signed his deal in the flat cap year. As it rises, salaries will as well. I'd prefer not go with a $22 million/season sort of AAV so if adding a 6th year gets him over $100 million and has him ahead of Stanley in total contract value, that works for me.

The stability is as critical as anything. This line is so good and so young - just lock the damn thing up for the next 3 years and be done with it. You can poke around w/ developmental RTs that could replace Niang in the next couple seasons and you buy all kinds of time to deal with the interior as Thuney gets expensive and Humphrey/Smith need new deals.
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Got another year on Tyreek's deal plus a tag season if necessary.

There isn't a huge rush to get him done, IMO. If something comes together - outstanding. If not, that's tolerable as well.
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That's my biggest reason, you get this whole young OL locked up for a while. I'd like to see Niang take the RT spot, but dude just has bad injury luck. I would probably poke around in the draft this year in the mid rounds for a T prospect that maybe needs some seasoning.

Other than that, just roll forward with it locked up.
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