On April 23rd, the Baltimore Ravens finally granted Orlando Brown Jr.’s wish by trading him to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Ravens get the Chiefs 2021 first, third, and fourth-round picks and their 2022 fifth-round pick in exchange for Brown, their 2021 second-rounder and 2022 sixth-rounder. While people might be debating on who was the winner was from the trade, both teams should thought of as making smart decisions with this trade.
With the Chiefs, this was the final piece in a complete rebuild of the Offensive Line. They cut Tackles Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz before the offseason began. During Free Agency, they signed three interior linemen, Austin Blythe, Joe Thuney, and Kyle Long, who came out of retirement. They could also get two other linemen back after they opted out in 2020 in Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang. With Brown, the Chiefs now have a left tackle to replace the recently cut Fisher and hopefully give Patrick Mahomes some protection.
The Ravens, meanwhile, get an extra first-round pick that they can use on a position of need. They also get two other picks in the 2021 draft, bringing their total up to nine. One of the Ravens needs is an edge rusher after losing both Matt Judon and Yannick Ngakoue to free agency. Those remaining are Pernell McPhee, who is 32, along with Tyus Bowser, and Jaylen Ferguson, both of whom have not had more than five sacks in a season.
Center is also a position of need, as both Patrick Mekari and Matt Skura struggled in 2020, and Skura is now with the Dolphins. Both Oklahoma’s Creed Humprey and Alabama’s Landon Dickerson could be there for the Ravens late in the first round. Wide Receiver is another position that has been talked about as a need, however, Ravens GM Eric Decosta had some strong words to say about that. Lastly, the Ravens could take Brown’s replacement with one of the two first-round picks.
Brown requested a trade from the Ravens with the desire to play left tackle. After starting at right tackle for two seasons, Brown moved over to the left side in 2020 after Ronnie Stanley went down with a season-ending ankle injury. Since Stanley is expected to be back by training camp, Brown wanted to go to a place where he could be a left tackle.
Brown now has a chance to show that he can be a top-tier left tackle in the NFL and also get a nice contact extension from the Chiefs.
