The Broncos are signing slot cornerback Bryce Callahan, Benjamin Allbright was the first to report (Twitter link). It’s a three-year deal, tweets James Palmer of NFL.com. The pact is worth $21MM in total and contains $10MM guaranteed, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Callahan will now reunite with new Broncos head coach Vic Fangio, who coached Callahan as the Bears’ defensive coordinator.A broken foot ended Callahan’s strong contract year, but Fangio coached the slot corner in all four of his NFL seasons. While Callahan will be a natural fit for Fangio’s defense in Denver, his injury and the makeup of the Broncos’ secondary will complicate it.
Chris Harris has handled the Broncos’ slot duties for most of this decade and has become one of this era’s top corners, being most identified for his inside coverage skills. While Harris plays outside in base sets, the Broncos use the veteran corner often in the slot. Harris, though, has requested at multiple junctures to be a full-time boundary corner, so Callahan being brought in may appease the incumbent.
Callahan, 27, finished his abbreviated season as Pro Football Focus’ No. 7 overall corner — just four spots behind Harris — and intercepted two passes in each of the past two seasons. The 5-foot-9 defender coming to Denver will, however, add another short corner to the Broncos’ secondary. Harris and Kareem Jackson stand 5-10.
The Broncos added Jackson on an $11MM-AAV deal earlier this week. Having played both corner and safety in Houston, though mostly corner, Jackson brings hybrid potential for the Broncos. However, Denver lost Bradley Roby and does not plan to re-sign Tramaine Brock, creating a need for two new cornerbacks. Callahan would potentially complete that trio.
The Jets were the only other team linked to Callahan this offseason, with the Bears not expected to pursue him. But the Jets signed former Falcons slot man Brian Poole, taking them out of the running.
Good Luck Bryce you were a damn good Chicago Bear.
He will be missed. Denver was a natural move.
Bears travel to Denver for a game this season and that will be a tough deal since Fangio knows that defense inside out.
It’s interesting that Amos got a bigger contract than Callahan. His overall skill set is more valuable than Amos, but apparently never making it through a whole season without injury, really affects the $$.
The first step to helping players survive the regular season is getting rid of those Thursday games. Trying to compete on just 3 days rest is a killer for someone already nursing a nagging injury. Of course Goodell only cares about the $ so it will never happen.
He’s really good when healthy…
That’s the problem, he can’t stay healthy.
Best of luck, Bryce! Thank you for all you did as a Bear!
Mother of God, please stop with the overpaying!!!!! With Oakland rebuilding, the Kansas City Chiefs in jail, the Chargers may be our only hurdle this season. Maybe I’m wrong about the money but these dudes do not seem worth the money that we are paying IMO.
Not sure about the overpaying but it makes no sense to go to the trouble of rebuilding a coaching staff and then not providing those guys with upgrades. Due to the ownership battles surrounding Denver, Elway has some flexibility as to spending so he might as well take advantage of that.
A, next season, 28 year old 5”9 CB who has never played a full season while making an AAV of $7M is an overpay IMO.
However, I agree with you that we should be spending money to support a new staff. It just seems like the signings so far by Elway has been massive amounts of money for nothing more than average to barely above average players.