No Contract as Expected for Scherff

Remember when July 15th used to be about franchise tags and long-term deals? Well it still is around the NFL but this year, well, not even a blip on the radar screen in Washington.

Brandon Scherff will play 2020 under his one year franchise tag of just over $15 million after the Washington NFL franchise and the veteran right guard could not reach agreement on a long-term deal by Wednesday's 4 PM ET deadline.

Nobody should consider this a surprise based on reporting by John Keim of ESPN in recent days and common sense.

The 'Washington Whatever's cannot risk investing long-term money and assets in Scherff until he proves he can stay healthy. Even then, it's a major risk.

Scherff is scheduled to make $15.03 million for a player that has had trouble staying on the field the last two years.

The Pro Bowl right guard has only played in 19-of-32 games and there was a lot of thought inside the building last year that his body was never going to be the same.

There was also some who thought that former interim head coach and Scherff's position coach for much of his career, Bill Callahan, was overworking the offensive line and wearing the unit out.

True or not - reality has set in and it often does not get dramatically better.

Here's the rub: Scherff is the best offensive lineman Washington has by far, with Trent Williams officially gone.

That's not in question. Even though he's not consistently dominant, he's the best of an average bunch.

Good to great (at times). Not elite. He never has been and never will be.

How much is that worth?

Spotrac.com says Scherff has a calculated market value of $13.1 million.

Obviously with a long term deal, it's expected that the average annual salary is no higher than the franchise tag and always always is lower but that's a two million dollar per year difference on a four-year, $52 million dollar long term contract value.

I'm guessing Scherff wants a higher AAV than that or at least more fully guaranteed money to make up for it.

Perhaps he wants a five-year deal?

No thanks. Sorry. I don't even feel comfortable at four, nevermind five.

This is not Kirk Cousins all over again. Cousins was durable. Scherff has not been. Period.

If Scherff plays ten games or less this year, there's no chance I'm doing a multi-year deal.

If he plays 15 or 16 games at a very high level - then we can talk.

Until then, Ron Rivera and Kyle Smith made the right call.

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Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Redskins" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621