Chris Harris wants a new contract from the Broncos that will pay him more than $15MM/year or a trade to a club that will give him the deal he desires. Right now, it sounds like the latter scenario is more likely. The Broncos are unwilling to meet his demands, Mike Klis of 9News hears. 
Harris is entering the final year of a five-year extension he signed in December 2014. The deal has him tied for 24th in the league in terms of average annual value. Meanwhile, he’s among the very best at his position.
Harris felt slighted by the Broncos’ decision to ink free agent Kareem Jackson to a three-year deal worth $11MM per year before addressing his own contract, Klis hears. Jackson, 31, is one year older than Harris and has not played anywhere near Harris’ level, so his frustration is understandable.
The Broncos, ideally, would love to keep Harris, but they’re a bit limited with just $11.7MM in cap space. In the past, the Broncos have made small concessions to keep Harris happy, but that likely won’t get the job done this time. Last year, the club tacked a $3MM incentive package on to Harris’ contract. A similar compromise seems unlikely to work this offseason.
Broncos GM John Elway, meanwhile, says he has bigger fish to fry.
“I don’t have time right now,” Elway said Tuesday when asked about negotiating a fresh deal for the cornerback. “I’m busy with the draft. We’ll talk about Chris. He’s under contract, so we’ll talk about that when the draft is over. When I say this, I said we’re going to talk about it. It doesn’t mean we’re going to do it.”
Meanwhile, the Broncos have yet to give Harris permission to seek a trade (Twitter link via Calvin Watkins of The Athletic).
Fine, draft a nice CB and let Harris sit out the entire year like Bell did. Don’t have to pay him and don’t have to concede to his demands.
Although I will say that if the Broncos are willing to pay Jackson $11M a year, they should be willing to pay Harris his asking price of $15M per year.
I don’t know what it is but every time I keep reading about Broncos business headlines it makes looking like running a football team is really difficult.
It seems hard to keep anybody happy in this game. Yet, because it’s a sport with a salary cap, it’s not like these teams can bust out like the Yankees. That’s my only argument in a lot of this I me mine talk. Is $15M a lot against the cap?
Harris should be treated like a lifer, but if business is like this it’s kind of tragic that players can’t stay on for that long due to disputes.