How Much Will Commanders Pay If Brandon Scherff Gets Tagged Again?

The offensive lineman is due for a big pay day.

Jeremy Brener | Feb 23, 2022

This year’s NFL free agency period will not officially open until March 16 at 4 p.m., but the first major date on the league’s 2022 calendar has already arrived. Starting Tuesday, teams can use the franchise tag to keep pending free agents from entering the open market.

Teams that use the franchise tag are typically trying to buy themselves more time to negotiate a new contract or keep an elite player around for one more year.

In the 30 years of the franchise tag's existence, the Washington Commanders have used it 12 times, including the past two seasons on offensive lineman Brandon Scherff.

Scherff is the only free agent apart from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick that made more than $2.5 million last season, so he is the only logical candidate for the tag once again.

Washington and Scherff's camp have been in negotiations for a long time, and this is the third offseason where Scherff will seek a long term deal.

According to Sporting News, a player tagged for a third straight season will have to be paid 144% of his previous salary. This means that Scherff would be paid nearly $26 million should the tag be used on him, which would make him the highest-paid offensive lineman in all of football.

Scherff is talented, but it is hard to justify giving him that contract, especially for only one season.

Scherff's camp is clearly frustrated with the Commanders front office, and it's likely he will command another offensive line in 2022.

Published Feb 23, 2022

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.