Orlando Brown's Dance With the Vertical Pass Set

How has Chiefs' big offseason trade acquisition fared through two pre-season games?

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One of the Kansas City Chiefs’ biggest hurdles this offseason was trying to rebuild the entire offensive line, most notably replacing both long-term starters at the offensive tackle position. No matter how much magic they could pull off in developing homegrown talent or the upcoming NFL Draft, they needed an instant-impact starter at tackle.

After coming up just short trying to bring in Free Agent Trent Williams, the Chiefs had to find another solution at tackle; enter Orlando Brown.

The Chiefs traded with the Baltimore Ravens to acquire Orlando Brown who was coming off his first (partial) season at left tackle.

This move brought stability to at least one tackle position for the Chiefs as well as a certain level of high caliber play but it didn’t come without questions.

Brown is a 6-foot-8, 345-pound tackle that had spent his NFL career with an NFL team that heavily emphasized the run game and a certain style of passing attack. Not only would he be transitioning to left tackle full time but also completely changing the type of offense he would be playing in. He wasn’t a perfect fit for the Chiefs on paper but he also checked off a lot of boxes they needed.

Orlando Brown Film Review

The Chiefs are now finished with their 2021 Training Camp and have two preseason games under their belt and some of the questions about Orlando Brown simply may not have been fully answered yet. There really shouldn’t be much made of one-on-one clips from training camp practices but it’s still fair to say the early impressions have been up and down.

It’s time to start putting Brown under the microscope and seeing how he could possibly fit in with the Chiefs.

Vertical Sets in Pass Protection

The most common concerns with Brown’s transition to the Chiefs offense center around his general movement skills and ability to pass protect for a vertical passing attack. Making it even more difficult to nail down the transition is Andy Heck’s and Andy Reid’s preference to heavily utilize the vertical set out of their tackles.

Vertical pass sets are exactly as they sound, an tackle gaining depth by sliding in as straight of a line as backward as possible while trying to keep their hips square to the pass rusher. It has two distinct advantages:

1. It allows the tackle to easily cut off rushers up the arc as they take a more direct path.

2. It puts them in a position to assist their offensive guard on the interior.

This is something Brown hadn’t been asked to do in his time in Baltimore very often and quite frankly that shows up on the field. As seen in the video above, he looks a little uncomfortable trying to maintain that vertical path but he’s still been able to find success utilizing it.

His sheer size and power help negate one of the biggest struggles with vertical setting. He can withstand power rushes without getting driven back into the pocket. We’ll get to his footwork later on but despite having less than ideal feet he was able to keep the rusher well framed. 

One of the keys when vertical setting is to make sure you don’t open your hips up too early in the rep and allow an easy inside counter move to be executed. Brown does a good job staying square to the rusher until the defender shows his plan to rush up the arc before starting to open his hips to keep that framing. It helps that he has the power to redirect and stall out rushers as they are forced to work through his body as well.

The other massive benefit to vertical setting is the ability to pick up tackle-end stunts easily. The depth gained by the tackle gives the guard somewhere to pass the defensive tackle off too and because the tackle isn’t gaining width, there isn’t any gap to slip through. This also applies when facing top-end 3-techniques that can blow through the B-gap and the tackle may be asked to help on the interior as well.

Now, the latter half of the video shows where some of the concerns that a lot of fans are probably seeing in Brown’s game with the vertical sets. Starting from the most basic aspect, his footwork just simply looks uncomfortable. He gets almost no depth on his kick-slide (his initial step with his outside foot) and consistently brings his post foot (inside food) in tight to his kick foot.

This results in a high pad level and narrow base which puts a player at a disadvantageous position to handle power rushers. It also means that he has to make up ground up the arc if an explosive rusher comes at him with a pure speed rush which often results in lunging or over-stepping. Thankfully for Brown his size and length allow him to recover in both of these scenarios more often than not but as seen can still present other issues.

When forced to make up ground, Brown’s third step is where he often opts to do so. This is usually done by over-stepping and against compromises his base. On Patrick Mahomes’s interception against the Arizona Cardinals, Brown got driven into the pocket when he had to over-stride. The defender was able to then attack his chest and Brown couldn’t recover without compromising the pocket.

Later in the game, the same general issue crept up only instead of getting driven into the pocket, Brown got beat cleanly to the inside. This time, the defender was able to time his inside counter when Brown’s post foot was completely off the ground trying to catch up to the over-striding outside leg. As soon as Brown’s hands were cleared he had nothing to anchor into the ground and redirect to block the defender.

Brown did a good job never getting beat up the arc but to make up for his slow get-off the line of scrimmage, he sacrificed integrity on the inside. Mitchell Schwartz has talked about how vertical pass setting can be “life” once you get used to it, but it takes time. Brown is newer to the concept and there might be some growing pains along the way but a simple improvement of his initial kick-slide could go a long way to helping him.

Counter Punching with Quick Sets

Matt Lane @ChiefinCarolina

Orlando Brown thread; As anticipated, Brown looks the most comfortable when quick setting in pass pro for KC. Quick kick, flat angle, & uses inside hand to force the DE up the arc. Hard to tell but looks like a lil Hamilton on the outside to control the arc.

The Chiefs’ second most common pass set is a quick or jump set and this is something Brown does excel at. When he’s able to be the aggressor and attack the defender he is at his best. His length and strength allow him to easily corral and control a defender as soon as he gets his hands on them.

Run Blocking

Matt Lane @ChiefinCarolina

Other expectations checked off, run blocking. 1st: GT Counter, Brown steps out and connects to the DE, turns him and drives him down the line 2nd: Duo w/ a good Trey block between Brown & Blake Bell. Combo blows the DE off the LoS & Brown is able to peel & get a piece of the LB

With the Chiefs’ newfound desire to incorporate more man-scheme run concepts, Brown couldn’t be a better fit. He’s a capable space blocker due to the amount of literal area his body covers but he’s truly at his best when combo or down blocking. His ability to generate immediate movement and then continue that momentum or peel off a  block and utilize his length to make secondary contact is fantastic.

Keep Calm

We — as fans — should be well aware that the tackle play for the Chiefs this year could very well be more up and down than what they are used to. That also doesn’t mean there isn’t hope for rapid improvement for Brown as the year goes on.

Brown’s flaws with his vertical sets could be improved by simply getting more reps and making small adjustments to his footwork. He’s already done a quality job embracing his strengths within the set type and coming up with contingency plans when rushers try to exploit his weaknesses. It’s not going to be perfect but don’t be shocked if Week 10 Orlando Brown looks much more comfortable and better than Week 1 Orlando Brown.

Then, in the meantime, he’ll keep taking names in the run game or when he’s allowed to be the aggressor in pass protection. It’s easy to call out a tackle who gets beat around the edge or gives up a quick interior pressure, but we as fans have to make sure we bring the same energy to positive run plays and blitz/stunt pick-ups as well.