The Denver Broncos are in a familiar bind. The team has exclusively franchised tagged Von Miller while trying to hammer out a long-term contract. As in year’s past, the clock is ticking down extremely close to the July 15 deadline. The Broncos can only blame themselves for not acting earlier and sorting it out in February rather than July.
Three more players on the roster have outplayed their current contracts and will soon hit the open market. In order to bypass another drama field offseason down the road, the Broncos would be wise to beat the rest of the league to the punch and lock these guys up. If the team allows them to hit free agency it will be too late.
Emmanuel Sanders has done far more than anyone expected since he arrived in Denver. He has had the best two seasons of his career, surpassing 1,000 receiving yards both times and has emerged as a workaholic and leader in the locker room. He is a player that nearly every National Football League team is looking for and he is currently happy as a Bronco.
Seeing his full worth, the Broncos momentarily had talks this offseason to try and resign him to a new deal. He is currently entering the last year of a three-year, $15 million contract, making him an unrestricted free agent in 2017. The Broncos, wisely, have him high on their priority list but it will not be cheap.
The Broncos have some outliers to look at when addressing Sanders. Doug Baldwin just had the season of his career and ultimately it got him his new contract one year ahead of hitting the open market. He received a four-year, $46 million deal just weeks ago. Sanders and Baldwin had strikingly similar output in 2015 and even similar contracts. Sanders will likely want his deal to match or exceed Baldwin’s.
The Broncos, while Sanders is still a part of the team, will try and get his services for under $11 million a year. That may be asking a lot but on the open market in 2017, with increased cap space across the league, Sanders will garner more than a $12 million a year average and will want nearly half of it guaranteed.
Free safety Darian Stewart is also a new player for the Broncos that far exceeded expectations. He came to the Broncos with Gary Kubiak from the 2014 Baltimore Ravens. After injuries and inconsistent play plagued his first four seasons with the St. Louis Rams, Stewart showed vast improvement in 2014. He showed his versatility in pass coverage and courage to come down in the box to tackle. Paired with T.J. Ward in 2015, Stewart played magnificently.
He missed one game with an injury but started 16 total games and was in on 77.4 percent of regular season defensive snaps. He tallied the fourth most regular season tackles on the team (59), caught one interception, forced a fumble, recovered two and tied for second with most regular season pass defensed (10).
In 2016, Stewart’s seventh season, he will be playing in the last year of a two-year, $4.25 million contract. Even after such a fantastic season, he is still flying under the radar. He is barely mentioned among the rest of his highly-touted defensive teammates and they may work to the Broncos’ favor. Another aging veteran safety, Reggie Nelson just signed a two-year, $8.5 million contract to play for the Oakland Raiders. With incentives, Nelson could earn $12 over two years according to Pro Football Talk.
Stewart has yet to receive the attention Nelson has over the year but if he has another season like 2015, his suitors will multiply, as will his asking price. If the Broncos can find a way to sign the humble, quiet and hard-hitting safety to a two-year deal worth a total of $8 million, possible $3 million guaranteed, they would have a great safety duo locked in for 2017 and 2018. Then the Broncos can either renegotiate with Stewart and Ward or pass the torch to several young safeties behind them.
While Denver currently boasts two of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, their third pass-defender has been progressing at an encouraging pace. Bradley Roby has immediately made an impact on the Broncos since arrival via the first round (31st overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft. He has appeared in every game since he became a Bronco and has six career regular season starts.
Last season, he recovered two fumbles sealing two separate victories. Like Sanders, he is also one of few players who are routinely getting extra work in after practice. He played in 57-percent of regular season snaps and played in nearly every snap of the playoffs. Roby is a sure fire starter on any roster that does not constant two other Pro Bowl cornerback teammates.
While he is not in danger of hitting the open market as an unrestricted free agent until 2018, each day and game he plays in and performs well his contract expectations increase. Coupled with the fact that Aqib Talib is recovering from a gunshot wound, self-inflicted or not, is a reason to believe that the Broncos may not want him on the roster past 2016. Talib’s contract also reasserts that theory. He is due $12 million in 2017 and the same in 2018, yet his dead cap money drops significantly from $11.5 million in 2016 to $2 million in 2017 and $1 million in 2018, according to Spotrac.com. The Broncos could release Talib with little worry after 2016 if they sign Roby to a long-term deal.
The Broncos have the opportunity to sign Roby cheap due to his limited “starting” experience. Although he has played significant time, until he becomes a weekly starter his contract will be slightly minimized. In 2015, the Baltimore Ravens Jimmy Smith, former Colorado Buffalo, signed a four-year $48 million contract in the last season of his rookie contract in order to lock him in long-term. Roby can become the same type of player. The Broncos could offer a similar number but backload the contract for when Talib would ultimately be gone.
General Manager John Elway has certainly delivered at his position over the past few years yet he is not immune to mistakes. While Miller waits until the 11th-hour to sign long-term with the Broncos, Elway would be wise to remember how stomach-churning it can be to let these things play out so long.
Sanders, Stewart and Roby are not Super Bowl MVP’s but they are certainly big pieces to returning to the big game. As Miller’s current case displays magnificently, signing talent sooner rather than later can be a bargain in the long run.
