Ultimate audition:
Super chance for free agents
Super Bowl 50 offers the 25 Broncos players who are set to become free agents a chance to make a lasting impression.
The hardware and the label are the ultimate prizes. Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy under a shower of confetti and earning the title “Super Bowl champion” could be a dream realized for the Broncos at Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7.
But for some of them — more than two dozen — the more lucrative prizes will be unceremoniously deposited over the course of coming seasons.
In March, 25 Broncos players are set to become free agents, 19 of them unrestricted and nine of them current starters. For a fewof those, the biggest stage will be even bigger. Four impressive quarters or even one big play in Super Bowl 50 could mean the difference of millions of dollars in their next contract— and a return to Denver next season.
“Here’s the ultimate example of howa postseason can affect contract talks: Joe Flacco, a couple years ago,” said Joel Corry, a former agent and current NFL contract and salary cap expert for CBS Sports. “That guy does not become the highest- paid player if RahimMoore knows howto play a deep ball.”
The Mile High Miracle, Flacco’s 70- yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones against the Broncos and over safety Moore in the 2012 divisional
playoffs, was followed by a Ravens Super Bowl victory, which was followed by a six- year, $ 120.6 million contract for a quarterback whose elite status still is debated.
One big postseason. One very big contract.
The conversation about any new or big contracts for players in Denver, of course, must begin with quarterback Peyton Manning, whose remaining one year and $ 19 million will determine the return or departure of multiple impending free agents.
The list starts with outside linebacker Von Miller, arguably the most valuable 2016 free agent, who led the Broncos with 11 sacks and 32 quarterback hits this season. Miller’s baseline is the six- year, $ 101 million deal with $ 52.5 million guaranteed that Kansas City’s Justin Houston signed last July. And the Broncos’ options are simple: Give him the franchise tag for one year, fully guaranteed, or extend his contract.
“You put Von Miller on the open market, where he’s an unrestricted free agent, he’s going to get more than Ndamukong Suh signed last year,” Corry said, referring to Suh’s six- year, $ 114 million dollar deal, of which $ 55 million was guaranteed. “Elite pass rushers never hit the open market. You would have a bidding war for him. You’re not getting him on a long- term deal for less than $ 17 million per year with $ 55 million in guarantees. That’s the floor. It could be more, but that’s a bottom- line minimum.”
The same near- guarantee for a big payday doesn’t hold for others, especially Ronnie Hillman. The Broncos’ starting running back turned in a ca- reer season with 863 rushing yards ( 4.2 per carry), but the highlight- reel plays and 100- yard games weren’t consistent, leaving his future— in Denver or elsewhere— unclear. It could, however, change with an impressive outing in Super Bowl 50.
“Ronnie Hillman can be Timmy Smith ( in Super Bowl XXII for the Washington Redskins, against the Broncos). I remembered he had the gameof his life and he never really did anything else,” Corry said of Smith. “Ronnie Hillman really needs the game more than anybody else. He might be able to get someone to give him Mark Ingram money, which is like $ 4 million a year. Might. If he has a huge game.”
The future of defensive end Malik Jackson, who also is enjoying a breakout season in Wade Phillips’ 3- 4 defense, might have already been decided by another move. Two days before Denver hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in a divisional playoff game, fellow defensive end Derek Wolfe was awarded with a four- year, $ 36.7 million deal that extended his time in Denver and probably ended Jackson’s.
“You got a guy that can play the run and rush the passer,” Corry said. “I don’t think you can afford him. He’s looking at the Mike Daniels ( Green Bay Packers) deal or the Corey Liuget ( San Diego Chargers) deal for his floor. Those average $ 10.5 million per year.”
That either- or principle might also apply to Broncos inside linebackers Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan.
Marshall is set to be a restricted free agent, meaning the Broncos will have the right to match any outside offer. The team might be able to retain him on as little as a second- round tender, worth about $ 2.5 million for one year, Corry said.
Trevathan, the Broncos’ leading tackler in the regular season ( 110) and postseason ( 14), will be an unrestricted free agent and probably viewing Mychal Kendricks’ deal as a baseline. The Philadelphia Eagles’ inside linebacker signed a four- year, $ 29 million contract last August that includes $ 17 million in guarantees.
“The only way you keep both for another year is you have to get Trevathan done on a long- term deal and Marshall plays on a tender,” Corry said. “But I kind of view them as a proposition kind of like the defensive linemen.”
The same reality will extend throughout the Broncos’ league- leading defense and to its ever- changing offense. The focus for now, they say, is on a ring.
But howthey get it could affect what happens after.