Elway said in his interview that he "liked" Champ Bailey, but that he would have to sit down with Xanders and the new coach and "see where we're at" before extending Bailey a contract.
Champ has indicated that he WON'T take a "pay cut" to remain with the team and that the MAIN factor influencing his decision to remain in Denver will be how quickly the Broncos can return to the playoffs. He obviously wants a chance at a championship ring.
But, in an interview with Len Pasquarelli at last summer Champ said that he'd eventually like to move to safety to prolong his career.
The Broncos current offer to Bailey was rescinded, so it might be a moot point. They might just let him go via FA (which would be a total slap in the face to the fans who expect this team to compete anytime soon).In a Tip Sheet piece for Len Pasquarelli ESPN.com, Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey revealed that he intends to eventually convert to safety in order to prolong his NFL career.
Bailey’s current agenda, however, involves securing a payday that would align him with the top NFL cornerbacks’ salaries for “another three or four seasons.”
This presents a dilemma for the Broncos, who are scheduled to pay Bailey $13 million in 2010, the last year of his contract. While Bailey is by all accounts still playing at an extremely high level, he is 32 years old and likely behind contract-year linebacker Elvis Dumervil in G.M. Brian Xanders’ pecking order for long-term commitments.
But, his contract could probably be reworked to make it more "cap-friendly" by giving him a signing bonus that would be pro-rated over the life of the contract (perhaps 5 years).
So that's probably doable IF the team wants to commit that much money to Champ. The problem is that they know his skills as a #1 CB are declining and by the next 4 years he might not be worth what they are committed to paying him.
My thought would be to draft Patrick Peterson to replace Champ, let him be the #2 CB for a season to learn behind Champ, and then move him up to #1 CB in 2012, while moving Champ over to FS where he would play the same role as Ed Reed did with the Ravens -- a great cover safety.
The problem with this is that you're paying him an awful lot of money for a FS. But, he'd undoubtedly be one of the best FS in football. He has great range and can cover anybody.
And he could "poach" and would probably get a lot more picks as a safety. It would be a real problem for QBs having to watch where Bailey was lining up to avoid having him step in front of the WR and pick off the ball -- he has as good hands as any WR in football.
Teams would NOT be able to avoid him by throwing to the other side of the field anymore.
Normally teams can't have a guy like Champ as a safety for 2 reasons.
#1 -- They need their best cover guys at CB and don't have enough good ones to "waste" one at safety. But, if the Broncos drafted Peterson, they'd have their #1 CB set for 2012 and could move Andre Goodman back to #2 (he'd be the #3 CB for 2011). Or else they could get rid of Goodman and get another #2 CB somewhere (they are much less expensive than #1 CBs).
#2 -- The salary range for S is MUCH less than $13 million (or even whatever they'd re-negotiate his contract to).
But, Denver is severely LACKING in their secondary, especially with Dawkins likely retiring, and a move like this might greatly strengthen them for the next 5 years or so.
Champ might NOT be able to be the #1 CB at 35 or 36 (he's 32 now). But, there's no reason he couldn't still be a great S then. That might mean there's a greater possibility he could usefully play out his contract, which would make it easier to avoid a big cap hit in giving him an extended contract with a big signing bonus now.
What do you guys think about this. Is this worth the money he'd get?