Orlando Brown officially signs with Bengals

UPDATE

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced the signing of Orlando Brown to a four-year contract.

Weighing in at 6-foot-8 and 345 pounds, Brown has been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of the last four seasons. This past season, he started all 17 regular-season games and three games in the NFL Playoffs at left tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs.

They did something. They finally did something, and boy, did they do it in a big way.

According to multiple media reports, the Cincinnati Bengals have signed Pro Bowl offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. to a monster four-year contract.

Brown departed the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason after two sides could not agree to an extension, and K.C. opted not to use the franchise tag as some thought they would. This reported contract makes Brown the 17th-highest-paid tackle in the NFL, a steal for a player the caliber of Brown.

Brown is the son of former NFL offensive tackle Orlando Brown, who played for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens from 1993-2005.

Entering free agency, Brown was ranked eighth overall among 2023 NFL free agents by Pro Football Focus. He recorded a 75.8 PFF grade last season and a 75.4 mark in 2021.

PFF also said “From Week 10 to the end of the regular season, Brown’s 88.7 pass-blocking grade ranked third-best among left tackles.”

Now entering his sixth NFL season, Brown was a Baltimore Ravens 2018 third-round pick by way of the Oklahoma Sooners. He played well in college and was initially projected as a first-round pick, but poor testing led to him slipping out of Day 1.

In Baltimore, Brown became a high-level starter at right tackle, but he wanted to play left tackle. That helped lead to the Ravens trading him to the Chiefs for the 31st overall pick (2021 and 94th overall pick (2021), then a fourth and fifth-round pick in 2022.

After playing out his four-year contract, the Chiefs hit Brown with the franchise tag for just under $17 million. They opted not to use it in two-straight years, leading to Brown hitting the open market.

Coming into the offseason, the Bengals desperately needed to find a way to upgrade one or both offensive tackle positions. Not only do they do that, but they do it with arguably the best offensive lineman to hit free agency this year.

Oh, and Brown has obvious Super Bowl-winning experience. Never can have too much of that.

What an absolute banger from the front office.

Who Dey!!

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