Last month, the Washington Football Team signed All-Pro right guard Brandon Scherff to his second-consecutive franchise tag, securing him on the roster for the 2021 NFL season, but leaving his future in the balance. He will play this season on a contract that will pay him approximately $18 million, but he becomes an unrestricted free agent next offseason, without the ability to be franchised again.
There are a lot of questions about what Ron Rivera and the team might do about this situation, with a long-term deal still being a possibility before the season starts, but according to Rivera, the two sides have not had any conversations about a new contract since the franchise tag was signed.
Ron Rivera on if there's been any further contract talks with RG Brandon Scherff: "That situation hasn't changed. We've got Brandon signed right now. … We're most certainly interested, but we haven't talked since he signed [the franchise tag]."
— Sam Fortier (@Sam4TR) April 1, 2021
We don’t want to read too far into things, but it seems like things are starting to lean towards Scherff playing for a new team in 2022. Not only will it be harder for Washington to re-sign him next year now that he has another, more expensive year on his tires, but they also would receive a valuable comp-pick if he were to leave, likely in the third round.
We will see how things play out, but for the first time in a while, it seems very possible that Scherff will finish his career somewhere other than Washington.
