The Trench Warfare Film Room featuring Bengals LT Orlando Brown Jr.

Welcome everyone to another edition of the Trench Warfare film room where I sit down with Bengals LT Orlando Brown Jr. We covered a wide range of topics during our nearly hour long discussion, starting with a snapshot of Brown’s decorated career at Oklahoma, followed by his three years with the Ravens before settling into an extensive conversation about his two years with the Chiefs.

Brown’s appreciation for the art form of offensive line play, his attention to detail and how thoughtfully he approaches his job shined throughout this discussion. By watching not only will you gain knowledge and unique insight about the position as a whole, you’ll also better understand how Brown has been able to carve out such a special first five years as a pro.

Here are some of the specific topics mentioned:

• Becoming an unanimous All-American and two-time Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year at left tackle for the Sooners before being a third-round pick and the ninth tackle selected in the 2018 NFL draft, largely due to an underwhelming combine performance

• Why Brown cautions against using the combine to determine the fate of an offensive lineman’s projection to the NFL

• How playing tennis in the off-season along with extensive body maintenance helps prep and train his nervous system for the rigors of playing offensive line

• Brown credits ‘mental toughness’ as the key factor for his remarkable durability (one missed game over the last four seasons) at 360+ pounds, detailing some of the ailments he was battling during the Chiefs Super Bowl winning 2022 season where Brown made all 20 starts

• The art of maximizing arm length to disrupt the timing of a pass-rusher with several examples throughout the film room

  • Preview of one example against Jaguars Edge Arden Key’s attempted cross-chop technique from the Divisional Round of the playoffs:

• Dissecting the importance of the tackle-guard relationship with anecdotes from Brown’s time playing alongside Marshal Yanda in Baltimore, Joe Thuney in Kansas City and how beneficial that can be for Bengals second-year LG Cordell Volson

• Breaking down Chiefs OL coach Andy Heck’s signature ‘Hamilton’ technique to break a ‘long-arm’ technique from a pass-rusher

  • Preview from a rep against Chargers edge-rusher Khalil Mack:

• Defining ‘body language’ when studying film of rushers, how the best edge-rushers excel using tempo and ‘transitions’ and outlining how the Bosa’s, Maxx Crosby and others demonstrate those skills on the field

• Adapting from year one (2021) to year two (2022) in Kansas City in terms of transitioning sides full-time into a new scheme and how Chiefs LG Joe Thuney was able to ease that transition

• Brown breaking down the ‘rake’ technique that he used in Kansas City and that he mentioned is taught by Bengals OL coach Frank Pollack

• Highlighting how Chiefs head coach Andy Reid bakes in help for the offensive line in pass-protection, specifically with back releases to help ‘funnel’ pass-rushers into the offensive tackle’s grasp, effectively shrinking space that the rusher can operate in

• Brown detailing how he used pre-snap recognition to decipher the 49ers post-snap plans to help spring a big run. Plus, a fun Creed Humphrey story at the end

  • Preview

We covered many more topics and layers during our talk together. If you enjoyed this content and/or have any suggestions for future ideas please leave a comment and share with someone you think could benefit from this. Thank you for all of your support that allows me to keep shining a light on line play at the highest levels of football.

Miss prior player film rooms?

Creed Humphrey

Jonah Williams

Rashawn Slater

Terron Armstead

Donald Penn & Kelechi Osemele

Ali Marpet

Full Orlando Brown Jr. Film Room