Thread: Elway on Demaryius Thomas: 'We'd like him to remain a Denver Bronco'

The Broncos' executive VP/GM hopes to have a long-term deal in place with the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver before the July 15 deadline.

Executive Vice President/General Manager John Elway hopes that the franchise tag for wide receiver Demaryius Thomas is the precursor to a long-term deal, just as it was for the previous two Broncos that received it.

"We're going to continue to work with DT and his agent to hopefully get something done for a long-term solution for him," Elway told Broncos TV's Chris Hall at the league meetings in Phoenix on Monday.

"We'd like him to remain a Denver Bronco, and that's one of our goals, to be able to get that done. I'm trying to get together with his agent, and hopefully we can do that. We'll continue to work diligently on trying to get something done."

rest - plus videos - Elway and Kubiak
http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-an...6-05a8251da470

This is exactly what everybody expects. Well, we now have a time-table. If DT is not signed to a long-term deal prior to the start of the pre-season we'll know that this is probably his last season in Denver. They would like to ink a long-term deal, but it might not happen. They might force him to play under the franchise tag and become an unrestricted FA next year. He might just do that if he wants maximum $, which he can only get from some other team with more cap room.

Originally Posted by Cugel

This is exactly what everybody expects. Well, we now have a time-table. If DT is not signed to a long-term deal prior to the start of the pre-season we'll know that this is probably his last season in Denver. They would like to ink a long-term deal, but it might not happen. They might force him to play under the franchise tag and become an unrestricted FA next year. He might just do that if he wants maximum $, which he can only get from some other team with more cap room.

Why would you draw the conclusion that this might be his last as a Bronco if they can't lock him in long term before the start of the season?

Originally Posted by Cugel

This is exactly what everybody expects. Well, we now have a time-table. If DT is not signed to a long-term deal prior to the start of the pre-season we'll know that this is probably his last season in Denver. They would like to ink a long-term deal, but it might not happen. They might force him to play under the franchise tag and become an unrestricted FA next year. He might just do that if he wants maximum $, which he can only get from some other team with more cap room.

Cugel you're drawing conclusion with no facts to back it up.

Vic Lombardi @VicLombardi · 15m

Predicted DT would skip Duke camp. Even thought it's not a team event, it's a team-related event. Not like he needs more routes anyway.

Vic Lombardi retweeted
Jeff Legwold @Jeff_Legwold · 36m

Just spoke to Demaryius Thomas -- in L.A for Call of Duty charity event ... he won't work out at Duke w/Mannjng or be at offseason program.

Jeff Legwold @Jeff_Legwold · 33m

Demaryius Thomas --- "I'm getting getting my body right, still working through a little soreness in my Achilles, but I could run routes."

Jeff Legwold @Jeff_Legwold · 35m

Demaryius Thomas said he hopes new deal gets worked out -- "I want it to" -- has been working out in Atlanta.

I was hoping he would take one for the team and be an exception to the typical franchisee.

Great so now we lose ALL of our free agents.

Originally Posted by DenBronx

Great so now we lose ALL of our free agents.

We didn't lose DT. He will be a Bronco this season. We tagged him. He can skip OTAs but would be heavily fined if he skipped training camp.

Business as usual for a tagged player. I think its likely a long term deal gets done before July. DT is a Bronco this year regardless.....and unless I'm mistaken the Broncos can tag him again next year if they so choose.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Demaryius Thomas said he will not attend the Broncos' offseason program and added he will not take part in workouts at Duke University with quarterback Peyton Manning and the team's other wide receivers.

The Broncos, who designated Thomas as their franchise player earlier this month, open their offseason program on April 13. The Broncos and Thomas' representatives have been working on a long-term deal.

AND

"I'll be back in Georgia, trying to get the body right, get the ankle right," he said. "Then when it's time to go, make sure I'm 100 percent ready to go."

It is common for players who have had the franchise player tag placed on them to not attend offseason workouts. The last two Broncos players to have been tagged as franchise players -- left tackle Ryan Clady and kicker Matt Prater -- each received new long-term deals before training camp opened in those years.

AND

Thomas has not signed the one-year, $12.823 million tender offer as a franchise player. The contract would be guaranteed the moment Thomas signed it.

Broncos executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway has repeatedly said he hopes to get a long-term deal worked out with Thomas so "he's a Bronco for a long time."

"I hope so -- my agent is dealing with that right now," Thomas said. "I'm in the loop, but I'm letting Elway and my agent handle that, come up with something."

full article - http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12...peyton-manning

Pay him. Pay someone.

sry carol didnt see this.

Originally Posted by TXBRONC

Cugel you're drawing conclusion with no facts to back it up.

Just try and keep up. I can't keep explaining all the obvious points over and over, just because you can't figure out the most basic obvious stuff that every educated fan should already know. This ain't rocket science you know!

Remedial Cap Economics 101: The Broncos are not going to just keep using the franchise tag on DT for 2 seasons in a row because they have to pay CASH. It costs them nearly $13 million in cap space. They can't structure a franchise tag contract to be cap friendly like they can a regular contract - it's a one year contract. Normally, they would sign him for maybe 5 years, and pay D.T. a big signing bonus which gets pro-rated over the lifetime of the contract, thus the cap hit might be something more like maybe $7 million for 2015 instead of $13M.

I don't think they can even afford the cap hit for one season of that. Not if they want to sign any more FAs and they will need to do that. Certainly they don't want to take the cap hit for 2016 as well. It won't cost them more money than they would pay to sign him to a long term deal, but it will be a LOT more cap un-friendly. Thus, if D.T. really refuses to sign a long-term deal with the Broncos and wants to play out his contract, he could either refuse to sign the franchise tag, or more probably, sign it and play out the season under the franchise tag contract and then become an un-restricted FA for 2016. Since a lot of teams have more cap room than the Broncos he could get more money that way, but he would probably wind up someplace like Julius Thomas did - like Jacksonville. Ugh.

You might want to try and figure out the obvious stuff on your own first before insulting me and telling me I have "no facts to back it up." You have no clue what you're talking about.