Broncos Offered Malik Jackson Five-Year Deal
The Broncos let defensive end Malik Jackson walk in free agency, but they didn’t do so without putting up a fight. Speaking today to reporters, including Cameron Wolfe of the Denver Post (Twitter link), Jackson said he declined a five-year, $53MM contract offer from Denver before the start of free agency. Jackson went on to sign with the Jaguars for six years and $85.5MM.
[RELATED: Broncos Extend Darian Stewart]
Jackson, 26, admitted that had the Broncos offered the same contract prior to the 2015 season, he likely would have accepted, but acknowledged that “things changed” as the campaign progressed. For one, Denver extended fellow defensive end Derek Wolfe on a four-year, $36.7MM deal, and Jackson “thought [he] would demand a few more dollars than [Wolfe],” tweets Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post. Second, Jackson played extremely well, grading as the league’s No. 16 interior defender per Pro Football Focus, and skyrocketed to the No. 2 overall position on PFR’s Top 2016 Free Agents.
Of course, while it’s difficult to compare the specifics of Denver’s offer to Jacksonville’s offer without knowing the exact nature and structure of the Broncos’ proposal, it’s safe to say that Jackson made the right decision in heading to the free agent market. He scored $31.5MM guaranteed from the Jaguars, and he’ll earn $44.5MM in the first three years of the deal — both figures would have been extremely difficult for Denver to match given their spate of 2016 free agents.
Jackson, for his part, has held up his end of the deal thus far, ranking as PFF’s 24th-best interior defender on the season. However, the Broncos are getting along without him, as they’ve posted a 7-4 record while fielding the NFL’s No. 2 defense by DVOA. The Jaguars, on the other hand, are last in the AFC South with a 2-9 mark, and despite Jackson’s contributions, their defense ranks only 16th in DVOA.
Broncos FB Andy Janovich Placed On IR
Broncos fullback Andy Janovich had ankle surgery and will be placed on IR, as Cameron Wolfe of The Denver Post tweets.
Janovich was taken in the sixth round of this year’s draft. Not only did Janovich make the 53-man roster this year, but he has appeared in all eleven games for Denver this season.
Used primarily for blocking purposes, the youngster has excelled. He is ranked as Pro Football Focus’ No. 4 fullback in the entire NFL with roughly even marks for his run blocking and pass blocking. He was on the field for 235 total snaps, the second-highest number of any fullback to date. Only Kyle Juszczyk of the Ravens (331 snaps) has seen more burn. The fullback position has been marginalized by many teams around the league, but the Broncos have leaned heavily on Janovich’s blocking.
As the 176th overall pick, Janovich is playing on a four-year deal worth $2.504MM, with a signing bonus of about $164K.
Broncos Sign Darian Stewart To Extension
The Broncos have seen enough from Darian Stewart in his two years with the team to know they want him around long-term, agreeing to terms with the safety on a four-year extension, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).
It’s a four-year deal worth approximately $28MM for Stewart, Mike Klis of 9News reports. The deal is worth up to $30MM, with $17.5MM guaranteed, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets.
This will make Stewart a top-12 safety in terms of AAV and, interestingly, the highest-paid safety on the team. T.J. Ward will make $5.75MM next season as part of a four-year deal he signed in 2014. But the Pro Bowl safety will enter the final year of his contract in 2017, with Stewart — the starting secondary’s lone non-Pro Bowl component –now looking set to be a part of this defense for a longer period of time.
The 28-year-old former UDFA was set to become a free agent in 2017. This locks up another player from Denver’s dominant defense. Stewart (44 tackles, three interceptions this season) joins Derek Wolfe, Brandon Marshall and Von Miller as defensive starters the Broncos have re-upped this year.
Klis reports the Broncos initiated this pact in advance of the free safety’s three-turnover game against the Saints. The Broncos signed Stewart to a two-year deal worth $4.25MM in 2015, and the former Rams and Ravens defender has been a quality starter since arriving. He made a game-sealing interception in his first contest as a Bronco and has started every game in which he’s played since, also forcing a fumble and recording a sack in Super Bowl 50.
Denver’s starting secondary of Stewart, Ward, Aqib Talib and Chris Harris is locked up through next season, with Talib and Harris signed through 2019. Stewart is now signed through ’20 instead of joining DeMarcus Ware and Sylvester Williams as walk-year starting defenders.
The Broncos drafted safeties Justin Simmons and Will Parks this year, pointing to a possible Stewart free agency defection like so many Broncos defenders in recent years. But the seventh-year player, who signed a one-year deal with the Ravens in 2014, will now will enter next season as a rare starter younger than 30 on a fourth contract.
Broncos Sign One, Waive One
- The Broncos signed long snapper Thomas Gafford and waived defensive tackle Darius Kilgo, Mike Klis of 9News tweets. Gafford will help fill the gap while Casey Kreiter is out with a calf injury.
Latest On Tony Romo’s Future
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones declared last week that he does not intend to move on from quarterback Tony Romo after the season, but the belief around the NFL is that Dak Prescott‘s backup will be in another uniform in 2017, reports Adam Schefter of ESPN.
While some expect the soon-to-be 37-year-old Romo to bring back a healthy return in a trade, general managers Schefter spoke to indicated otherwise. In the opinion of those GMs, Romo would net anywhere from a mid- to late-round conditional pick. One reason is that the Cowboys wouldn’t hold much leverage in trade talks because Jones, who’s close with Romo, would enable the four-time Pro Bowler to choose his next team. If that’s the case, the to-be-determined club wouldn’t have much incentive to surrender a significant pick for Romo, who’s due base salaries of $14MM, $19.5MM and $20.5MM over the final three years of his contract.
A high-end starter from 2006-14, Romo has played in just four games since the beginning of last season because of various injuries – including a broken bone in his back that left him inactive the first nine contests this year. When Romo went down during the preseason, the assumption was that he’d reclaim the starting job upon returning. But Prescott, a fourth-round rookie, had other ideas. The 23-year-old has gone from caretaker to star over the course of the season, having accounted for 21 touchdowns (17 passing, four rushing) against a meager two interceptions in the first 10 games of his career. Prescott also ranks third in the NFL in yards per attempt (8.35) and passer rating (108.6), and has helped the Cowboys to a league-best 9-1 record. The team hasn’t lost since dropping a 20-19 decision to the Giants in Week 1.
In the near term, Prescott’s brilliance has pushed Romo to the bench (he returned last Sunday in a No. 2 role). Down the line, it could lead Romo out of Dallas in the offseason. One potential suitor is the Broncos, who have gone 7-3 with roughly average play under center from Trevor Siemian.
The 24-year-old Siemian addressed the Romo rumors on Wednesday, telling Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post, “Not too worried about it, truthfully. This is a really important game for us. We have plenty of focus toward this coming Sunday. You can’t worry about that stuff too much.”
Denver does indeed face a crucial matchup Sunday against AFC West rival Kansas City, which is also 7-3. While the Broncos and Chiefs currently hold playoff spots in the AFC, they’re looking up at the division-leading Raiders (8-2), and the reigning Super Bowl champions will likely need more from Siemian if they’re going to overtake Oakland. In his first year as a starter, Siemian has completed 60.1 percent of throws, averaged 6.97 yards per attempt and tossed 12 scores against seven picks. With Romo likely to hit the market after the season, Siemian could be playing for his job over the next several weeks.
Broncos Placed Claim On Ronnie Hillman
- The Broncos placed a claim on running back Ronnie Hillman, tweets Mike Klis of 9News in Denver (via Twitter). The 25-year-old was waived by the Vikings yesterday and landed on the Chargers today.
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Broncos Get Aqib Talib, Derek Wolfe Back
- The Broncos expect to have cornerback Aqib Talib and defensive end Derek Wolfe back for Sunday night’s game against Kansas City, as Andrew Mason of DenverBroncos.com writes. Talib has missed three games with a back injury and Wolfe was absent in Week 10 as he dealt with an elbow issue.
Broncos Sign Marlon Brown
The Broncos reached a multiyear agreement with Marlon Brown on Monday, per NFL.com’s James Palmer (on Twitter), with the former Ravens wide receiver becoming the Broncos’ seventh on their roster. It’s a two-year deal, according to Troy Renck of Denver7 (on Twitter).
Denver cut second-year cornerback Taurean Nixon to make room.
The Broncos cut Brown during training camp. However, as the Denver Post’s Cameron Wolfe tweets, the 6-foot-5 target likely would have made the team had a back injury not intervened. Wolfe adds Brown is likely to contribute if he can stay healthy, possibly in red zone situations given his size.
Brown played three seasons with the Ravens after arriving in Baltimore as a UDFA in 2013. He played under Gary Kubiak in 2014 during the current Broncos coach’s one-year stay in Maryland. The 25-year-old receiver has 87 career receptions for 849 yards and seven touchdowns. Brown hasn’t played in a game this season, with the Broncos’ August cut being his most recent NFL transaction.
Brown will join an Denver auxiliary wideout corps that has not seen one of its members stand out much over the past two seasons, with Jordan Norwood, Bennie Fowler, Cody Latimer and Jordan Taylor representing the current supplementary cast. Norwood leads this group with 203 receiving yards this season.
Nixon saw his first NFL action in the Broncos’ loss to the Raiders during a game in which Aqib Talib and Kayvon Webster did not play.
More Speculation On Tony Romo’s Future
Now that Tony Romo has formally conceded the Cowboys’ starting quarterback job to Dak Prescott, it is time to speculate where Romo will be next season. It is possible, of course, that he stays in Dallas, and many pundits believe it would make plenty of sense for the Cowboys to keep him around. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, for instance, says that given Prescott’s athleticism and running ability, he will always run a heightened chance of getting hurt, and Romo would easily represent the best insurance policy in the game. Plus, as a fourth-round draft choice this year, Prescott’s 2017 cap number is a meager $635K, and the Cowboys would eat $19.6MM in dead money if they were to cut or trade Romo next year.
As Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes, Romo will talk with team owner Jerry Jones in the offseason, and the possibility that Romo returns to the Cowboys on a reworked contract is certainly on the table. Jones himself recently said, “I have no plans for [Romo] not to be a part of the Dallas Cowboys. Not a consideration.” (Twitter link via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News).
There’s nothing else that Jones, ever the politician, would say at this point. But if the Cowboys do seek to trade Romo in the offseason, La Canfora and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com confirm that there would be a pretty healthy market for his services. Earlier this week, we heard that some NFL executives believe the Cowboys could get as much as a second-round pick for Romo, though others are more bearish on his value. In any event, since Romo’s contract would have to be renegotiated to make a trade work, he will have a great deal of say in where he winds up next season.
Rapoport hears that Romo “has his eyes on the Broncos” as a potential destination, assuming Denver determines that Paxton Lynch is not ready to go in 2017 and that Trevor Siemian is not the answer. The Cardinals also look like a strong possibility, and the Bears, Jets, and Bills could theoretically be interested in Romo if the circumstances are right.
And, although Jason Witten has recently stated that he does not believe Romo will retire anytime soon, Rapoport says that retirement remains a possibility, depending on how Romo’s body feels. If he does choose to hang up the cleats, Rapoport believes Romo will continue to work in the Cowboys’ organization in some capacity given his close personal relationship with the Joneses.
C.J. Anderson Ahead Of Schedule
Broncos running back C.J. Anderson is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a torn meniscus, tweets Troy Renck of Denver7. Anderson was placed on injured reserve in late October, but Denver could choose to designate him as their IR returner if it so chooses. Anderson must miss a minimum of eight games, meaning he could come back for important late-season divisional contests against the Chiefs and Raiders, then presumably stay on the roster for a potential playoff run.