John Elway’s track record as the general manager of the Denver Broncos has been pretty stellar. Since taking of the reins of the team’s football operations in January 2011, it’s been one accomplishment after another for No. 7. Five straight AFC West titles, two Super Bowl trips and a world championship add up to a pretty impressive résumé; throw in recruiting the biggest name to hit the free agent market in NFL history and there’s little doubt that Elway knows what he’s doing when it comes to building a roster.
But he’s not perfect. And there’s no better evidence of that fact than what transpired last Friday.
That’s when Elway inked Von Miller to the largest non-quarterback contract in NFL history; he gave the Super Bowl 50 MVP a deal totaling $114.5 million, with $70 million guaranteed. Those were staggering numbers, ones that shattered records for a defensive player.
While it was certainly good news that the Broncos and Miller came to an agreement at the 11th hour, preventing an ugly situation where the face of the franchise was either unhappy or holding out, the contract was far from the best deal Elway could have cut with his star player. In the end, Denver wound up paying millions more than they needed to in order to avoid a disaster.
That’s because Elway misread the table; he went all in with a pair of deuces, while Miller was in the catbird seat with a straight flush. There was no way the Broncos were going to win this particular negotiation; one of the greatest postseasons in league history simply gave Miller too much leverage. That being the case, Elway needed to cut his losses; the sooner he came to an agreement with one of the game’s best outside linebackers, the better.
Instead, Denver’s general manager tried to play the same waiting game that he had with other franchise tagged players. This time around, that strategy backfired. As the months passed, lesser-talented pass rushers started signing huge contracts; this set the market, driving Miller’s price tag through the roof. When Olivier Vernon, who has totaled just 29.5 sacks in four seasons, got $52.5 million guaranteed from the Giants in early March, it cost the Broncos money; when Fletcher Cox, with his 22 sacks in four seasons, signed a deal that included more than $63 million guaranteed from the Eagles in June, Denver was going to have to up the ante once again.
From the outset, Miller’s representatives have said that they wanted their client to be the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. Before free agency started, the benchmark was the contract Ndamukong Suh signed last offseason; $114.375 million over six years, with $59.955 million guaranteed, set the bar. Unfortunately for Denver, one of those numbers jumped in the past four months, making it more expensive when Miller’s camp stuck to their word.
The deal the linebacker eventually signed was only $150,000 bigger than Suh’s overall contract; that suggests that guaranteed money somewhat north of $60 million would have gotten a deal done earlier in the offseason. But that number skyrocketed once Vernon and Cox inked their deals; a player with 60 sacks during his first five seasons in the league, fresh off dominating in the playoffs and carrying his team to a title, was worth way more than those two. As a result, the Broncos wound up having to fork over $70 million in guaranteed money.
Elway simply misplayed the situation. Perhaps he didn’t think Miller’s reps were serious about wanting to set the new standard for defensive players. Maybe he didn’t anticipate the overspending for pass rushers by other teams. Possibly he underestimated the PR backlash that would come from not rewarding the reigning Super Bowl MVP. Whatever the reason, Elway swung and missed on this one; he clearly should have tried to get a deal done much sooner.
To his credit, however, the Broncos general manager didn’t compound that mistake. Going to war with a great player, digging in his heels because a price tag that he thought was already too high continued to go up, would have been a disaster. Miller is the biggest star in Denver, not just on the Broncos; he’s a transcendent player and personality, an icon in the making that attracts all sorts of positive attention to the Mile High City. Those types of athletes don’t come around very often; good franchises make sure they keep them around.
That’s where Elway deserves a ton of credit in the Miller situation; at the end of the day, he realized that he had to have his superstar on the field. Pride and stubbornness didn’t get in the way of simply biting the bullet and making the decision that had to be made.
That’s what makes Elway such a good general manager. Yes, he makes mistakes; nobody in his role bats 1.000. But he doesn’t compound his errors; he doesn’t pile blunder upon blunder.
Should he have signed Miller earlier? Yep. But he still found a way to keep a game-changing defensive player in the fold. That’s a familiar pattern for Elway; since taking over, he’s rarely chased a misstep with another stumble.
It could be argued that the Broncos should have never let Brock Osweiler hit the free agent market. But giving an unproven quarterback a $72 million contract would have been even more foolish. Some would say that placing the lowest free agency tender on C.J. Anderson wasn’t a savvy move. But letting their No. 1 running back walk over a couple million bucks would have been a major miscalculation.
Could Elway have played the Miller situation better? Absolutely. But ultimately, the Broncos general manager avoided a catastrophe; in the end, he did the only thing that mattered – he got the deal done.
Von Miller was the big winner on Friday. But even in “defeat,” John Elway showed that the Broncos are in good hands.
