If Brandon Scherff was unsure of how his employers felt about him, that's likely no longer the case.
The Washington Redskins picked up Scherff's fifth-year option on Monday, the team announced, more than a year before he'll play his fifth professional season. The deadline to pick up such options on players selected in Scherff's draft class (2015) is May 2.
In a sport that seems to discard first-round linemen as often as it praises them, Scherff has done nothing but proven Washington correct in selecting him fifth overall in 2015. The guard has earned back-to-back Pro Bowl selections in 2016 and 2017 and was also named to the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie Team in 2015.
The Iowa All-American and 2014 Outland Trophy winner has carried on the Big Ten Conference's predominantly sterling reputation for producing top-flight linemen. Scherff has appeared in 46 regular-season games in three years in the NFL and stands a chance to become Washington's new-millennium version of Russ Grimm, should he maintain his success over the course of his career. He's definitely off to a good start.