Orlando Brown Jr. trade talks ‘heating up’

With the 2021 NFL Draft less than one week away, the rumor mill is beginning to heat up across the league. One of the biggest stories of the offseason has been the potential trade of Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Orlando Brown Jr., and Josina Anderson provided an update on where the situation stands.

As Anderson notes, Baltimore hosted free agent tackle Alejandro Villanueva on Thursday for a free agent visit. While Villanueva has played primarily left tackle, if the team was impressed with the former Pittsburgh Steeler, they could look to bring him in as a nice depth piece while also having the ability to start in the event that Brown is traded.

For Brown, his situation is unique. He is a star at the right tackle position, but after moving over to the left side in the wake of a season-ending injury to Ronnie Stanley, he officially made it known that he wants to move to left tackle full-time to honor the dream that his late father, Orlando Brown Sr., had for him.

The Ravens probably know that Brown realistically will leave the organization in 2022 free agency, if the franchise doesn’t trade him before then. If the team has Brown play out the remainder of his rookie contract in 2021 and then he signs elsewhere on a big money deal, Baltimore would most likely get a third-round compensatory pick in the 2023 draft. However, if they find a trade offer that they like in the coming days, they could opt to move away from Brown now and start looking for their next answer at right tackle while also picking up extra 2021 or even 2022 draft compensation.