Washington All-Pro guard Brandon Scherff signs franchise tender

The Washington Football Team recently used the franchise tag to retain the services of four-time Pro Bowl guard and 2020 First-team All-Pro selection Brandon Scherff. 

Per Nick Shook of the NFL's official website, the 29-year-old signed his franchise tender. It's the second consecutive year Washington tagged Scherff, meaning the fifth overall selection of the 2015 NFL Draft is on track to earn $18.036 million in guaranteed money for the 2021 season. 

With the salary cap set to drop nearly $16 million from the previous year because of financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington could look to lock Scherff down on a long-term deal to spread cap hits out across multiple campaigns, especially with cap figures likely to increase each year moving forward. The two sides have until July 15 to agree to a new contract. 

According to Shook, Pro Football Focus ranked Scherff as the fourth-best guard for the 2020 season. 

"Over the last three seasons, Scherff ranks among the league’s best guards in nearly every key metric, including a 97th percentile ranking on true pass sets and 90th percentile ranking in percentage of positively graded plays," PFF added for a piece updated on Tuesday.