We’re all stuck talking about Von Miller, and that’s understandable — he’s great, he’s worth a lot of money and at some point he’s going to get it — but he’s far from the only player to face a contract dispute.
In reality, it happens all the time. Players want to get paid, and front offices can be frugal — yes, you can be frugal within a $155 million salary cap.
Miller just happens to be one of the most high-profile cases in a while. But soon, he’ll just be another guy who got paid.
Going forward, they’ll be plenty athletes for John Elway to negotiate with, including a couple key figures on the Denver Broncos Super Bowl winning team.
With that said, here are the next five players set to get paid the big bucks by John Elway … or leave the Mile High City in favor of greener (as in cash money) pastures:
5. Bradley Roby
Contract Status: 5th-year team option in 2018; UFA in 2019
Bradley Roby, for all intents and purposes, is under the Broncos’ thumb for the next three seasons, so there’s no reason to worry. But his day will come.
Right now, Roby is the No. 3 cornerback on the Broncos’ roster, but that doesn’t even begin to represent his talent; on 31 other teams, he’d be an elite No. 2, if not a No. 1. Unfortunately, he just so happens to have two of the 10 best cornerbacks in the NFL sharing the secondary with him.
That will change, though, as Aqib Talib and Chris Harris get older, and Roby is slowly moved into a larger and larger role. By the time he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2019, if he’s not the Broncos No. 1 corner on the outside, plenty of other organizations will be hoping to pay him like one.
While Roby has more years remaining on his contract than anyone else on this list, there’s a chance that he walks away with the biggest contract of the bunch in the long run.