The Denver Broncos, their players and their fans have become accustomed to extremely tough contract negotiations with their star players. Just in the past thirteen months, there have been two instances of this.
Last July, Demaryius Thomas and the Broncos did not reach a deal until the last few hours before the deadline, amid threats from the NFLPA to the Broncos that they would pursue collusion charges if a deal wasn’t reached. Then, a few weeks ago, Von Miller reportedly requested a trade when the negotiations looked bleak before finally reaching a deal on the final day.
This time around, with another star player, Emmanuel Sanders says it will be different.
“(Contract negotiations are) not frustrating, it’s actually a blessing,” Sanders said. “A lot of people see it as a down, but you are talking about million and millions of dollars that I can earn just by playing the game that I love. So at the end of the day I’m looking forward to it.”
It is worth noting that the day after the Super Bowl victory, Miller was very optimistic on the process of his contract negotiations, too, saying it would be “a peaceful thing.” However, this statement from Sanders truly does feel different, because he is already in the middle of the negotiations, and is still positive about the process.
“Right now we are just both working back and forth, we are trying to find that middle ground of saying this is a fair deal for me, and for the Denver Broncos,” Sanders said.
While it doesn’t seem like Sanders is eager to take a new deal, especially at a discount, his desire to remain a Bronco gives hope that the two sides may be able to workout a deal long term.
“I’ve said it from day one, I’m not trying to break the bank,” Sanders said. “I want to be here, but I just want a fair deal. And I want a fair deal for the production I’ve been putting out.”
Sanders is reportedly asking for $12 million per year. After comparing his production to the rest of the league, his true market value sits right around $11.5 million.
Whether or not the Broncos and Sanders reach a long-term contract extension, it would greatly benefit both sides if the talks remained professional and even keeled, just as they are now.
Although Sanders has a very positive outlook on the end result, he’s not going to rush the process.
“We will see how it goes,” Sanders said.
With talks still in the beginning stages, the Broncos have hope, but for this season the most important aspect in the negotiations is to make sure that Sanders, one of the leaders of this team, remains positive about the Broncos, whether or not a deal is reached.
