Quick reminder: The Denver Broncos are Super Bowl 50 champions! In his first year on the job Gary Kubiak led Denver to a title and he did it by taking arguably the most circuitous path in NFL history. But they did it, and it was amazing to watch.
This town is still on a Super Bowl high but it’s hard to not start looking forward to next season. The road to repeating for the Denver Broncos starts with some tough decisions.
It’d shock everyone if Peyton Manning returns to the orange and blue for a fifth year. He’ll either retire or be cut on or before March 8, creating a huge question mark at quarterback.
Von Miller is a free agent but Broncos Country shouldn’t fret too much about his status. John Elway will either sign the Super Bowl MVP to a long-term deal, likely making Miller the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history, or slap the franchise tag on him.
Danny Trevathan, David Bruton, Omar Bolden, Evan Mathis, Ronnie Hillman, Malik Jackson and Brock Osweiler are all unrestricted free agents. Each will be looking to cash in on the Super Bowl momentum.
Elway is going to need to pull a rabbit out of his hat to keep the core of this team together (it’d be helpful if that rabbit was made of gold).
The need to find money has brought to light a situation everyone thought solved; what should the Broncos do with Demaryius Thomas?
After signing a monster 5-year, $70 million contract last offseason it was assumed Thomas would be a non-issue this offseason. That was until No. 88 struggled on the field. Sure 105 catches, 1,304 yards and six touchdowns is nothing to scoff at. Those are numbers you’d expect from a wide receiver who was paid $13.2 million last season. The key drops, the disengaged behavior and little or no “kicking and screaming” isn’t.
There are also three other things you can’t have from $13.2 million receiver.
Four catches, 40 yards.
Two catches, 12 yards.
One catch, eight yards.
Those three stat lines represent Thomas’ production in three straight playoff games against the Steelers, Patriots and Panthers respectively. To classify that as unacceptable is an understatement.
Thomas was an absolute no-show during the playoffs. Not a person in this town (maybe this country) thought Denver could win a championship if DT grabbed seven balls for 60 yards and no touchdowns in the playoffs. But, they did.
The Denver Broncos proved they don’t need Thomas to win a Super Bowl. Which creates an interesting situation for Elway and Company. There’s no reason to pay $15.2 million to a player not vital to repeating as champs next season.
Elway has three options when dealing with Thomas.
First, he can cut him. This is highly unlikely to happen. Were Denver to cut Thomas his dead cap hit would be $21.8 million. There’s only one thing worse than a $15.2 million head case wide receiver and that’s throwing away $21.8 million to cut a head case wide receiver.
Second, Elway can ask Thomas to restructure this contract. This would be a tough sale because Thomas knows Denver won’t cut him. Manning was asked (forced) to restructure in the offseason to help create cap space. Why wouldn’t it be reasonable to ask Thomas to do the same?
Third, Elway could trade Thomas. Remember though if Thomas is moved it wouldn’t be about getting equal value in return. It’d be nothing more than getting out from underneath the $56.7 million DT has left on his contract.
Speaking strictly from a business perspective a trade would be best-case scenario for the Broncos. Dump Thomas’ contract and free up room to sign key defensive players and get something, hopefully draft picks, in return. Win-win.
From a PR standpoint this would be a nightmare for Elway. Thomas is a fan favorite; trading him for what amounts to a salary dump would not be well received.
If Elway has proved anything during his tenure as executive vice president of football operations it’s that he doesn’t shy away from making tough decisions. He fired John Fox after posting a 46-18 record as a head coach. Elway replaced fan favorite Tim Tebow with Peyton Manning and made Manning take a pay cut when it made sense for the team. He now needs to find away to reduce Thomas’ cap number.
It’s simple; Thomas wasn’t vital to winning the Super Bowl. In fact, there were times during the season that No. 88 was more of a detriment on the field than an asset.
Because of this the Broncos find themselves in the uncomfortable conundrum. Do they ask their most athletically gifted offensive weapon to take a pay cut the year after signing him to a new contract or trade him in a necessary salary dump?
Thomas is a talented player, good in the community and a nice guy, but facts are facts. Denver won a championship with a putrid offense and an otherworldly defense. To keep that defense intact, key defensive players are in need of contracts and money is tight. At this point Thomas is nothing more than a line item expense that needs to be reduced.
Sorry to rain on the parade.
