Washington Football Team All-Pro offensive guard Brandon Scherff is comfortable with playing on the franchise tag for a second consecutive season. Scherff will play the 2021 season on an $18.04 million tag.
Many speculate this will be the four-time pro bowler’s last season with Washington before hitting free agency, However, Scherff appears to have other plans.
Scherff remains “very confident” that a long-term deal will be worked out at the end of the season.
Washington and Scherff had until July 15 to work out a long-term deal. But was unable to. Now, both sides cannot engage in negotiations until after the season.
Washington has the option of placing the franchise tag on Scherff for a third straight season at 144% increase from his 2021 salary to avoid him reaching free agency. That would come with a price tag of nearly $26 million. Presumably, Washington would prefer to avoid that mark for an offensive guard.
Yet, Scherff’s asking price is assumed to be over $20 million per year. There will need to be some give and take from both sides to get a long-term deal done. Brandon Scherff maintains he wants to finish his career in Washington.
The jury will be out on that at least until after the season. For now, he’ll be focused on repeating his All-Pro season from a year ago, and anchoring Washington back to the playoffs for the second straight year.