We’ve got one of our first big cuts of the young offseason. The Broncos are releasing cornerback A.J. Bouye, a source told Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link).
It ends an unceremonious run in Denver for Bouye, after the Broncos traded a fourth-round pick for him last March. Injuries limited him to only seven games this past season, all of which were starts. The move means the team will save the non-guaranteed $11.7MM he was owed for this upcoming season, and new GM George Paton clearly wasn’t about to pay his excessive salary. An UDFA back in 2013, Bouye had a couple of really solid years with the Texans which he parlayed into a five-year, $67.5MM deal from the Jaguars in March of 2017.
Things went well initially, as he was a second-team All-Pro and had six interceptions in his first year in Jacksonville. Things went south quickly after that (as they did for that entire Jags defense), and he had only one interception in each of the next two seasons.
In addition to the injuries, Bouye was also hit with a six-game PED suspension back in December. He’ll still be sidelined for the first two games of the 2021 season, which could complicate things when looking for his next contract this spring. That being said he’s still only 29, and there should be significant interest in the established starter.
Ravensss
Just imagine Marlo, MPJuiceman, Jimmy Smith, and AJ Bouye in the same secondary omg
Don’t forget the safeties!
The recent version of Bouye won’t add a thing to anybody’s secondary.
Browns
Salary move for a QB move, in all likelihood. If they just wanted to upgrade, I think they would have stuck with Bouye until they picked a new corner in the draft. I suppose the teams the Broncos negotiated with weren’t interested in including him as part of a trade package either.
I’d say that I would rather see Denver use their picks to select another QB out of this talented group than see them trade for one of the others.
The only real option that would be worth it play-wise would be Watson, due to his status as an established elite QB and his youth, but the extreme cost for such a move would be hard to recover from. Denver could potentially make Deshaun a franchise starter for years to come, but even with his skill, it’s still a large gamble. Watson will always be in the top five or so of QBs salary-wise, and will cost you at least three years of quality picks (more if you consider the potential value of starters who could have been selected with those picks). Denver also has the Miller question to resolve (who could very easily take a pay cut, which would make things slightly easier).
Watson in Denver, on the other hand, will have access to great young receivers (better too once Sutton returns), a great young receiving tight end, and possibly the best offensive line that he’s had in his career, with the extreme improvement of Garrett Bolles. Even with all that, I still think it’s a really expensive ask for a team who really just needs a quarterback and a handful of defensive picks to really be successful.
Also on the Bubble: A. B. Gyrl !!
Sherman replacement, possible upgrade for the cowboys, new browns starter,
Definitely going to a contender
What? As a backup. His days of starting are over
The dude was just another guy, and thus not worth a big roster bonus. Better to spend that money on a free agent offensive lineman or middle linebacker.