With a new stacked roster, it is no surprise that the Washington Football Team’s future is looking remarkably good, especially on the defensive side of the ball. A few questions have arisen this offseason, such as who will be playing quarterback? and which wide receivers will be suiting up for the team this fall? In addition to what other players could be added to this already dominating defense? There is one question that has yet to be regularly brought up: What will Washington do with Pro Bowl right guard Brandon Scherff?

The average fan doesn’t appreciate how valuable offensive linemen are. How good your line is affects all aspects of your passing and running game. To have a good running game you need your offensive line to create holes. In the passing game, you need your line to help pass blocks in order to give the quarterback more time to throw. 

Last season, Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranked Washington’s offensive line the sixth-best in the league. A statement from PFF said, “Solid play from Lucas and Wes Schweitzer on the left side, paired with top-10 grades from each of Chase Roullier, Brandon Scherff, and Morgan Moses at the other starting spots, resulted in a much-improved group from a season ago.” When you look at it from this point of view, these guys were the real MVPs. All of these players (excluding Scherff) are under long-term contracts, which is good news for Washington.

Unfortunately for Washington, their best linemen, Brandon Scherff is a Free Agent. So, Washington can do three of the following things: they can resign Sherff to a contract, they can franchise tag him, or they can let him sign with another team. 

Now, let’s break down what each of those options really means. Resigning Sherff to a contract is the preferred option for both sides. It provides stability, as it’s going to be a multi-year deal. Since he’s one of the best in the League, it will be a big payday. One of the more complicated scenarios could be a franchise tag. A franchise tag is when a team and a player can not agree to a long-term extension. Brandon Scherff played the 2019-2020 season under the tag. You can franchise tag a player twice. For each position, there is a fixed value on how much you pay the player. So, we can see that it would cost $14.5 million to tag Scherff. But, since this could be the 2nd year of him playing under the tag, Washington would have to pay 120% of what he made last year. Last year Scherff made $15.03 million. So to tag Scherff and pay the 120% it would cost Washington $18.036 million. If they don’t choose to tag or to resign, Brandon Scherrif can sign with any team of his choosing.

Washington picked Scherff 4th overall in 2015. Because they spent their top pick on him I believe they will come to some sort of agreement where we would end up seeing Scherff back in DC. Now the question is will it be via Extension or Tag? The deadline to franchise tag a player is March 9th, so Washington will have until that time to figure out a plan.

Now, according to Sportrac, Brandon Scherff’s value is listed as $12.7 million per year. Now, this is just a projection, this is not what Washington has to do. They can pay him more or less; the $12.7 million is just a projection. Obviously, the $12.7 million is significantly less than the franchise tag which is set at $18.036. It is in the interest of both sides to get a long-term deal done before the deadline. Washington can pay less money and assure having one of their best players for the long run, and Scherff can get a long-term deal with guaranteed money. I believe they will come to an agreement. 

All in all, I think the final deal will come out as the following: Scherff resigns with the Washington Football team for a deal that is four years for $54 million. Washington would have Scherff for his entire prime and at a good price. The annual value is about $13.5 million dollars per year, with the deal making him the third highest paid right guard in the NFL. He would only be behind division foes Zach Martin of the Cowboys and Brandon Brooks of the Eagles. This is the number one task for Washington to do this offseason, as he is one of their most important players on the team. However, no deal is in place yet. It’s going to be a thrill of an offseason for this Washington franchise, and it should start by resigning former first-round pick, Brandon Scherff.