ESPN reporter says that Brandon Scherff turned down an offer to make him the league's highest paid guard

ESPN's Washington beat reporter John Keim has a proven track record of knowing what's going on with the team. On his most recent podcast, he reported that Washington's All Pro guard Brandon Scherff, who received his second franchise tag from the Football Team this off-season, earlier refused an offer to make him the highest paid guard in the league and, as Ron Rivera confirmed on Thursday, hasn't spoken to the team recently about his contract.

Talking about Scherff, Keim said on his podcast, "I think it will be difficult to keep him. As one league source told me a couple of months ago, 'That ship has sailed'. Strange things can happen, but Scherff has turned down multiple offers, some of which would have made him the highest paid guard in the league."

Keim added that he didn't know the entire structure of those deals, so he wasn't in a position to fully evaluate them, but stressed the fact that Washington has been unable to get Scherff to agree to a long term deal.

Brandon Scherff was the 5th overall pick in the 2015 draft, and has been a fundamental part of Washington's offensive line ever since. He missed much of the 2018 season with a pectoral muscle tear, and played only 11 games in 2019 and 13 games in 2020 due to other injuries. Still, he is a four-time Pro Bowl player, and was voted first-team All Pro last season.

Washington has held onto the guard from year-to-year of late. Scherff played the 2019 season on his fifth-year option and the 2019 season on the franchise tag. Washington tagged him a second time this year, paying him over $18m for the 2021 season, but absent Scherff's agreement to a long term contract, the franchise can't hold onto him beyond the end of this year.

If Scherff is willing to agree to a deal, it seems that Washington is willing to pay him, but if he is determined to leave, then the Washington front office can try to trade him in the coming months or hope for a compensatory draft pick when he leaves in free agency a year from now.

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