Derek Carr’s new contract should be the floor for Russell Wilson’s next deal
Las Vegas’ Derek Carr became the seventh quarterback of the $ 40 Million Club when he signed a threeyear, $ 120.5 million extension ($ 40.5 million average) last week.
The contract should represent the floor for Russell Wilson’s next deal with the Broncos. His contract currently averages $ 35 million, which is eighth in the NFL.
Wilson turns 34 in November and his contract runs through the 2023 season. A deal averaging $ 40 million ( the Rams’ Matthew Stafford), $ 45 million ( Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes) or more should be his goal.
A round number is four years and $ 184 million ($ 46 million average), which would be doable for the Broncos if the salary cap explodes as expected. Over The Cap projects the 2024 cap to be $ 260 million.
Wilson counts 10.9% of the Broncos’ cap this year; a $ 46 million cap hit in ’ 24 would be 17.7%.
Just this offseason, Carr, Stafford, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson and Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins have signed new deals/ extensions.
Hackett hires strategist. Working in the Broncos’ facility as a recent Hackett hire is Brad Miller, who is the team’s football strategy analyst. Miller graduated from Harvard in 1997 and played football, baseball and junior varsity hockey for the Crimson. He moved on to Florida and Stanford to earn masters’ degrees.
Miller’s final year at Stanford
( 2003) as a graduate assistant football coach was Hackett’s first as a coaching assistant and the two remained in contact.
After leaving Stanford, Miller coached at the high school level in California and then moved to Italy to teach and eventually coach the Parma Panthers professional team.
“He’s very, very intelligent,” Hackett told The Denver Post recently. “I’ve always talked to him about different ( situational) management stuff and I wanted somebody who doesn’t necessarily want to coach, but do projects and wants be purely about projects and dive in and be next- level.”
New T- shirts. On their social media channels, Broncos players have showed T- shirts with “WIN THE WEST” on the back, signifying Hackett’s emphasis on the AFC West.
“It’s very important,” outside linebacker Bradley Chubb said. “We’ve got the best division in all of sports ( and) especially football. If we win the West, we have a good chance to do what we want to do and what we talk about as an organization and that’s winning the West.”
Chubb calls the T- shirt slogan a “daily reminder, a constant reminder of what we’re trying to accomplish.”
During their six- year playoff drought, the Broncos are 11- 25 against the AFC West, including 0- 12 against Kansas City.
No local pro day. The Broncos will not have a local pro day before the draft in which players from state colleges and/ or grew up in the metropolitan area can be at the facility for testing and meetings.
Instead, the team is expected to invite several local players to next month’s rookie camp on a tryout basis.
Strong finish. Chubb didn’t have a sack in seven games last year, a season interrupted by a second ankle surgery. But throughout this offseason, general manager George Paton has pointed to Chubb’s finale against the Chiefs as a reason for optimism.
Chubb had five tackles, including two run “stuffs” ( gain or one or fewer yards) in 53 snaps.
“I wanted to go out with a bang, especially against K. C., a team that everybody in this building hates,” he said.
No brace for Sutton. Receiver Courtland Sutton, who tore his
ACL in September 2020, is working without a brace.
“( Last year), each week was a little bit better and each week was me being able to get a little more comfortable,” he said. “This offseason, I’ve been training and running without the brace. My body feels amazing. Honestly, I’m just excited to get to OTAS ( in May) and training camp and the season because there is so much excitement around our team.”
Footnotes. Outside linebacker Malik Reed became the final Broncos restricted free agent to sign his contract tender. Reed, an undrafted free agent in 2019, has played significantly in all three of his years because of injuries to Chubb (’ 19 and ’ 21) and Von Miller (’ 20) and has 15 sacks in 45 games. … Chubb spent part of the offseason back on the campus of North Carolina State in Raleigh, working toward his sociology degree. He will take his final exams next month online. … The Broncos don’t pick until No. 64 in this month’s draft, but that starts a string of six selections until No. 116. By contrast, Carolina picks sixth and then not until No. 137 and Miami and the Los Angeles
Rams don’t have initial selections until Nos. 102 and 104, respectively. … Call the NFL shorting the Broncos a seventhround pick a housekeeping oversight; both the team and league confirmed nine picks in February, but it didn’t appear on the official list provided to the media.