Money drives expendability
Once an apprentice in the No Fly Zone, cornerback Bradley Roby now walks through Broncos headquarters like he owns the joint. Roby, the star of John Elway’s 2014 draft class, won’t like me saying this. But he pushed Aqib Talib out the door to Los Angeles.
Talib gave the No Fly Zone an edge as nasty as a poke in the eye. Roby, however, made Talib expendable, which explains how a fivetime Pro Bowler was traded to the Rams for a fifth-round draft choice.
In the NFL, every job is temporary work. Everybody’s expendable.
“No more Talib questions,” Roby said Wednesday, uncomfortable discussing a mentor who taught him so well that Talib is no longer a Denver teammate.
Well, not to harsh Roby’s mellow, but Talib is scheduled for a return appearance to Colorado with the Rams in October, so maybe we haven’t seen the last pick-six in this dusty old cowtown by our old friend.
What Roby really would rather not talk about, however, is the unavoidable bummers of a mean business. Money keeps intruding on the locker room camaraderie all championship teams cherish.
Is Roby a better shutdown corner than Talib? No way. No how. What favored Roby was the math. With the Broncos paying him $8.5 million this season, the team figured it could let the Rams pick up the $11 million tab on Talib, who celebrated his 32nd birthday in February.
Given Denver’s selection of edge rusher Bradley Chubb with the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft, there’s no room for charity regarding Shane Ray, whose 13 sacks since being the team’s top draft choice in 2015 don’t merit any financial guarantees beyond this season. So why should anyone be surprised Elway declined to pick up the fifthyear option on Ray’s contract? It was a tough move, but also a prudent decision.
In the Expendables Football League, everyone is a replaceable part. The salary cap allows no room for sentimentality. When the Broncos used two of their top six selections in last week’s draft on receivers Courtland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton, the message was loud and clear.
In veteran receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, Denver has invested nearly $17 million in base salary and allocated over $22 million in cap space for 2018. After Elway minced no words in demanding more production from his core vets on both sides of the ball, notice has been served. It would make little sense to keep both Thomas and Sanders around beyond this season, especially if the Broncos fail to make the playoffs again.
With quarterbacks Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch and Brock Osweiler stumbling over musical chairs all season long, Sanders caught only 47 passes, by far the worst production of his four seasons in Denver. Yes, injury caused him to miss four games in 2017. But Sanders knows the score: “The moment you get over 30 in the NFL, they automatically say, ‘He’s getting up in age.’ ”
In a dogeatdog business, isn’t Sanders worried if he teaches new teammates Sutton and Hamilton too well, they will take his job and he will be the next star over age 30 to be pushed out the door at Dove Valley?
“That is going to happen anyway,” replied Sanders, figuring there’s no reason getting angry about the harsh realities of pro football. “Once you get up (in age) in this league, you start making too much money, and they say …” Next!
In the NFL, younger is cheaper. Even a wellestablished star can be chewed up and spit out by the rosterchurn machine. This time, it was Talib’s turn. A year from now, the planned obsolescence could tap Sanders on the shoulder.
“Look, I understand the business of it,” said Sanders, vowing to show Sutton and Hamilton all the tricks in his route tree, because he wants to help the rookies feed their families.
“All I can do is make plays every single day and show that if I become expendable here, just show some other team, ‘Hey, look, I still got it. I still got the juice.’ Maybe they want to pay me. That would be selfish of me to say, ‘I’m not going to teach you everything that I know because you’re going to beat me.’ At the end of the day, if he’s going to do it, he’s going to do it. I can’t avoid that.”
In the Not For Long, Roby made Talib expendable.
And now the Broncos are hoping Sutton can do the same for Sanders or Thomas.