Four-time Pro Bowl left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., was reportedly given an offensive-line record $31 million signing bonus by the Bengals to protect quarterback Joe Burrow’s blindside a month after Brown’s assistance in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory, according to multiple reports late Wednesday night. The Bengals have made an aggressive move to acquire an elite starting quarterback for the fourth year in a row.
WR Orlando Brown Jr. Agrees to 4-Year Contract with Bengals
The offensive line they re-made on the first day of free agency last year will have to be re-arranged to accommodate the reported four-year, $64.1 million deal, and the salary cap is still tightening in anticipation of that potential massive extension for Burrow. Two weeks ago, during the NFL scouting combines, the Bengals said that incumbent left tackle Jonah Williams wouldn’t be moving to right tackle. Nevertheless, since then, the Bengals have gone out and got their greatest offensive lineman since the days of Pro Bowl left tackle Andrew Whitworth.
On Wednesday night, after Whitworth finished his conversation with Bengals.com, he received a call from Orlando Brown Jr., who was calling in as an NFL commentator for Amazon.
Getting a player of that caliber is fantastic, Whitworth said. “Orlando Brown Jr. has opportunities to play in both the organizational structures of Kansas City and Baltimore, which are vastly different from one another. One emphasizes physical superiority, while the other is designed with Patrick Mahomes in mind. His ability to succeed in a variety of settings should serve as a positive example to the team. Be honest with yourself. No matter what else is happening on, the Bengals are tough to beat when Joe Burrow is safe.”
Williams, who costs the team over $12 million each year to pay, is recovering from surgery on his dislocated kneecap and is expected to be ready for training camp. With only a month removed from surgery to repair his torn ACL, incumbent right tackle La’el Collins’s readiness for Opening Day remains uncertain. If Collins isn’t ready to go before the start of the season, offensive line coach Frank Pollack stated at the combine that swing tackle Jackson Carman is in the running to start on the right side.
But, the Bengals’ acquisition of one of the game’s greatest players who won’t turn 27 until May 2 is one of the biggest lightning hits in franchise history, keeping the roaring ’20s alive for the two-time AFC finalists. After two years and four epic matchups, the Bengals and Chiefs are familiar foes who have met twice in the AFC Championship Game. The Bengals get their man in the end zone.
Orlando Brown Jr. is highly regarded by Trey Hendrickson, who recorded 1.5 sacks in those games. Brown also debuted in the NFL during the three seasons prior with AFC North rival Baltimore. He has played in all but one of the team’s 82 regular season games and all 10 postseason contests.
When the Ravens tried to force Brown, a third-round pick out of Oklahoma in 2018, to play right tackle, he balked and they eventually dealt him to the Chiefs. Orlando Brown Jr., the son of the late Browns and Ravens left tackle Orlando Brown, Sr., has started every game as a left tackle. A chance to play left tackle was a big factor in his decision to join the Bengals, he told NFL Media. Brown expressed his gratitude for the chance to continue his father’s tradition as a left tackle.
Orlando Brown Jr., who is 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 363 pounds, takes great pride in his performance at left tackle. Brown’s father cleared the road for right tackles to make huge money in the early days of free agency in the 1990s, but he encouraged his son to play left tackle, the more prominent side of the line at the time, as Bengals Hall of Fame right tackle Willie Anderson recalled on Wednesday night.
“Orlando Brown Jr.: “I believe that being in Kansas City was a lot more challenging and a lot harder because of the one-on-ones. I think that being in Kansas City was the reason I was able to make the last four Pro Bowls. This is what earns me the admiration of others. Because of this, coaches, front offices, and players will often predict that they will face Orlando Brown 45 times during a season.”
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Because of the failure to reach an extension with Orlando Brown Jr., the Chiefs employed the franchise tag and did not re-use it during this year’s free agency period.
Even though Whitworth has heard the NFL CW claim that Orlando Brown Jr. is a superior right tackle to a left one, he remains skeptical of this assertion. The two workplaces have benefited from his efforts, as Whitworth puts it. In addition, Brown’s size and strength make him an ideal fit for Burrow.
Orlando “Zeus” Brown was a beloved member of the Cincinnati community until his untimely death at age 40 in 2011. His kid was just 15 at the time. He attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio for two years before transferring to South Carolina State. After college, he played in 129 games as an undrafted free agent for the Bengals’ AFC Central rival Browns and Ravens in the 1990s and again in the 2000s as a member of the Ravens’ AFC North rival Bengals.
In 1995, Brown started at right tackle for the Browns in a victory over the Bengals in the final game ever played at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. In 1999, he started at right tackle for the Cleveland Browns in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the final game played at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.
When the Bengals played the Ravens in Baltimore, wide receiver Chad Johnson leaped on the back of the 6-7, 360-pound Brown as a joke during warmups, a memory that Willie Anderson still finds hilarious. As Johnson made a scene, Brown pursued him around the field until Johnson finally collapsed in the Bengals’ locker room and asked Anderson for advice. Anderson told him to wait inside until the game began.
Interview of Orlando Brown Jr. (Video) Watch Now