For awhile there, it seemed as if John Elway wasn’t willing to spend on free agency, but I guess he just wasn’t willing to spend on Brock Osweiler, Malik Jackson or Danny Trevathan.
Russell Okung, though, is a different deal.
Sources tell me that OT Russell Okung is close to finalizing a 5-year deal with the Denver #Broncos worth $10.6M per year.
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) March 17, 2016
If those numbers are correct, than Elway has just signed Okung to a five-year, $53 million deal that almost assuredly means the end of Ryan Clady‘s days in Denver.
The Broncos had reportedly been working hard to restructure Clady’s current deal — Clady even admitted that he’d take a pay cut to stay in Denver — but those talks must have stalled. If cut, Clady, whose cap hit was expected to be $10.1 million in 2016, will save the Broncos $9.5 million, or 90 percent of Okung’s new deal.
The question, though, is: Would the Broncos be better off with a Clady making $5-8 million or an Okung making $10-11 million?
And in fact, according to Ian Rapoport, that number could actually be as high as $12 million a year.
Russell Okung's agreement with the #Broncos (first reported by @JosinaAnderson) is 5 years, up to $12M per year.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 17, 2016
We’ll see how this effects the Broncos offseason decision making going forward.
