No surprise here, but Brandon Scherff‘s extension talks will be tabled until next year, according to sources who spoke with John Keim of ESPN.com (on Twitter). With that, the franchise-tagged offensive lineman is set to play out 2020 on a $15.03MM deal. 
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Scherff, a three-time Pro Bowler, signed his tag almost immediately, quelling any possibility of a holdout. He’s the first guard to receive the franchise tag since 2011, and that’s largely due to the league’s arcane rules regarding offensive lineman. Per the collective bargaining agreement, guards and tackles are classified under the same “offensive lineman” banner. Those franchise tender salaries are calculated off of the average of the top five at any given position, and teams aren’t keen on paying tackle money to guards.
Since entering the league as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2015 draft, Scherff has started in all 65 of his games. Unfortunately, he’s also missed a good chunk of time. Between 2018 and 2019, he’s been sidelined for 13 games. Still, he’s one of the league’s very best interior protectors when he’s healthy, and the Redskins are glad to have him in the fold.
In the long run, Ron Rivera would love to keep Scherff for years to come. But, as we’ve heard with just about every other franchise-tagged player, the current economic climate has brought extension talks to a screeching halt.
“I want to sign a long-term deal with them,” Scherff said earlier this year. “I love it there, and I’ve always said I wanted to be a Redskin for the rest of my career. So, hopefully we can work towards that.”
Go Redskins !!!
aka Washington Panthers
whoa whoa whoa Zack! Can’t use that word anymore my friend. It’s been officially retired 😉 hahaha
I don’t understand why all offensive linemen are grouped together when applying the franchise tag. If there’s a distinction between defensive ends and outside linebackers, why can’t they determine the difference between blockers? Wherever the player lines up the most would be their primary position…
My view is that fewer distinctions are better than more. It would make sense to correlate tag values to snap counts instead of trying to put a value on what positions are more important than others.
The tag value isn’t based on importance. It’s the mean salary of the top five highest paid players at the position
One day “white people” and “Karen” will also be banned words b/c they too are racial slurs. My grandfather’s generation went to war against the Nazis, my Dad’s generation went to war against Communism, and my generation went to Starbucks to fight for political correctness.