Draft Rumors: Broncos Interested In LS
- Portland State Long Snapper Kameron Canaday has had private workouts with the Cardinals and Broncos, as Rand Getlin of NFL.com tweets.
Broncos Rumors: Daniels, RG3, QB, Norwood
Broncos coach Gary Kubiak addressed reporters on Tuesday morning at the NFL owners’ meetings and we have the highlights from his scrum right here, courtesy of Troy Renck of The Denver Post:
- Kubiak said that he has big plans for tight end Jeff Heuerman and he sees him as a complete tight end, Renck tweets. Of more import to us at PFR, Kubiak says that he hasn’t ruled out bringing Owen Daniels back. Daniels had two years left on his contract but was released by Denver earlier this month. The veteran tight end, who will turn 34 in November, caught 46 balls for 517 yards and three touchdowns during his lone season in Denver.
- Kubiak said the team is in “no hurry” to add quarterback. “We talk about it everyday. The important thing is to get it right and not rush it,” the coach said (link via Renck).
- Robert Griffin III is on the “list” of quarterbacks being considered by the team, though they are looking at plenty of options (link). A report on Monday indicated that RG3 could be Cleveland-bound this week.
- Kubiak said that he talked to Jordan Norwood on Monday and he says it’s a sign of how much the team wants the wide receiver back in the fold (link).
- The coach wants a fullback on the roster again and the team is looking at options in the draft, Renck tweets. The Broncos wanted to have a fullback in 2015, but that didn’t pan out due to James Casey‘s knee issues.
Broncos Interested In Re-Signing Jordan Norwood
- The Broncos continue to have interest in re-signing receiver and return man Jordan Norwood, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Renck adds that free agent special-teamer Omar Bolden is set to visit John Fox and the Bears this week.
Broncos’ John Elway On QB, Von Miller, O-Line
The defending champions have already undergone a major facelift this offseason, but GM John Elway says that he’s not done tinkering with the team’s roster. Of course, in the wake of Peyton Manning‘s retirement and Brock Osweiler‘s departure, the No. 1 item on the team’s agenda will be to figure out its quarterback situation. The Broncos also have to address the contract of star defensive player Von Miller. The Broncos placed the franchise tag on Miller earlier this offseason and the two sides are discussing a long-term pact. 
On Monday, Elway addressed these issues and more. Here’s a look at the highlights (via Troy Renck of The Denver Post):
On the team’s quarterback situation:
“We will bring somebody in to compete. We are not going to just turn the job over to [Mark Sanchez] now, even though I know he’s excited about competing for the job. Everything is out there. There are a still a lot of guys. You never know what’s going to fall out of the tree. We are not in any rush.”
On Miller and the possibility of a holdout:
“I don’t see the benefit of it, but the (players) obviously do. But we are going to do everything we can and are hopeful we can come to some kind of agreement. Von is a big part of this. We want him to continue to be a big part.”
On the team’s revamped offensive line:
“We are excited about the bookends. [Donald Stephenson] is a young guy we think has a tremendous amount of upside. And [Russell Okung] is a guy who has played solid the last five or six years, been on championships teams and knows what it takes. Plus it gives us flexibility with the guys we have now with [Ty Sambrailo] and [Michael Schofield] (on playing guard). Different guys can go different places. It opens us up for the draft, and we can get to the point where we can take the best player.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Details On Russell Okung's Asking Price
- Before he signed with the Broncos, free agent tackle Russell Okung drew interest from other teams on a traditional multiyear deal, tweets Tom Pelissero of USA Today. Okung was seeking $10-11MM per year though, which was too rich for clubs, given his injury history, says Pelissero.
Browns Downplay Interest In Colin Kaepernick
Speaking today to reporters, including Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Browns executive VP of football operations Sashi Brown downplayed the team’s interest in 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, suggesting that those trade discussions were “way over-reported,” as Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland.com tweets.
According to Brown, the team isn’t currently actively engaged in trade talks for Kaepernick, and only had preliminary discussions, which didn’t include specific negotiations on draft pick compensation or a new contract for the quarterback. Brown added that the Browns didn’t instigate those conversations, and Grossi clarifies (via Twitter) that it was Kaepernick’s representatives, rather than the 49ers, who contacted the Browns.
Although it’s possible that Brown’s comments today are a negotiating tactic or an attempt to regain some leverage, it doesn’t seem likely at this point that Cleveland will land the San Francisco signal-caller. The Browns appear more focused on other options, including Robert Griffin III, who visited Cleveland on the weekend — no deal with RGIII is imminent, but the club is doing its homework on the former No. 2 overall pick.
The Browns, Jets, and Broncos were identified earlier this month as the three teams showing interest in Kaepernick, but the Jets’ interest was believed to be tepid, so if the Browns aren’t a serious suitor either, it looks increasingly likely that the 28-year-old will be a Niner or Bronco in 2016. San Francisco is expected to continue to explore the trade market after Kaepernick’s $11.9MM base salary becomes fully guaranteed on April 1, but the team is also prepared to hang onto him if no suitable trade offer materializes.
In addition to downplaying Cleveland’s interest in Kaepernick, Brown also suggested that a Joe Thomas trade is not in his club’s plans, as Grossi tweets. With fellow linemen Mitchell Schwartz and Alex Mack departing in free agency, there was some speculation that Thomas would ask for the Browns to be traded, but if that’s something the team intends to consider, the executive VP of football operations isn’t tipping his hand.
“That’s not our plan at all,” Brown said. “Our plan is not to trade Joe Thomas.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Broncos Leading Colin Kaepernick Pursuit?
La Canfora recalls being stunned the Browns balking at the Broncos’ offer of a first-round pick for Thomas at the last trade deadline, and Cleveland collecting a first-rounder for the 31-year-old left tackle is a move he’d implore the team to make considering the franchise’s current state. Some inside the Browns organization regarded a Thomas trade as a key component to the offseason, while Jimmy Haslam hasn’t expressed the same sentiment, La Canfora notes.
- Regarding the Colin Kaepernick trade pursuit, La Canfora sees the Broncos as the most interested suitor who may be willing to execute a trade, whereas other teams may be willing to call the 49ers‘ bluff and wait for the sixth-year quarterback’s potential release. The CBS reporter doesn’t see the Browns as being enamored with the signal-caller to the point they’d cough up much in a trade despite recent reports. Numerous executives have informed La Canfora John Elway isn’t panicking about Denver’s suddenly barren quarterback situation in private, and La Canfora wouldn’t expect the Broncos’ sixth-year GM overbidding for Kaepernick or spending much on Robert Griffin III.
Examining Russell Okung’s Self-Negotiated Contract
Russell Okung‘s new five-year deal with the Broncos has been one of the most-discussed free agent contracts during the second week of the 2016 league year, and there are a number of reasons why it has been such a topic of interest.
If Okung plays out the entire contract, it would be worth well over $50MM, making it one of the most valuable overall deals in 2016 free agency, and we rarely see contracts that big signed more than a week into the league year. Additionally, the structure is somewhat unique, since it’s essentially a one-year pact with a four-year option.
Ultimately though, the interest in Okung’s deal comes down to two factors:
- It features no guaranteed money.
- He negotiated it himself.
It’s easy to conclude that those two factors are related, and suggest that Okung’s lack of an agent – and his lack of experience in contract negotiations – resulted in him agreeing to a team-friendly deal. That’s a point that’s hard to refute. Very few free agents who have signed contracts within the last week and a half have inked fully non-guaranteed deals — even minimum-salary players often receive guaranteed $80K signing bonuses.
Although he retained former NFL team cap analyst Jimmy Halsell, Okung was unable to talk to teams during the 52-hour legal tampering period before free agency officially begun. As many agents agreed to deals for their players during those two days, Okung was forced to wait, putting him behind the eight-ball from the start. Throw in the fact that he had never negotiated a contract for himself before, the odds of Okung landing a player-friendly deal weren’t great.
But just how unfavorable is Okung’s new deal? Let’s take a closer look. Based on various reports to date, here’s what the breakdown of the contract should look like:
2016:
- $1MM workout bonus
- $2MM base salary
- $2MM roster bonus if he spends one game on the 53-man roster
- Up to $3MM in playing-time incentives ($1.5MM for 80% of snaps, $3MM for 90% of snaps)
$1MM option that must be exercised before the first day of the 2017 league year. If exercised:
2017:
- $2MM base salary (fully guaranteed)
- $8MM roster bonus (fully guaranteed)
- Up to $1.5MM in per-game roster bonuses
2018:
- $9.5MM base salary (fully guaranteed)
- Up to $1.5MM in per-game roster bonuses
2019:
- $8.5MM base salary
- $2MM roster bonus
- Up to $1.5MM in per-game roster bonuses
2020:
- $9MM base salary
- $2MM roster bonus
- Up to $1.5MM in per-game roster bonuses
This breakdown may not be entirely comprehensive, but it’s a pretty close approximation of what Okung’s deal looks like, and it shows how significantly he’s betting on his health. In January, the longtime Seahawks lineman contacted teams to let them know he was undergoing surgery to repair his dislocated left shoulder, an injury he suffered during Seattle’s divisional-round loss to Carolina. Okung said in his message that he expected to be fully cleared in five months, which would put him on track to participate in training camp.
While Okung may be on track to fully participate in training camp, he likely won’t be healthy in time to do the same for offseason workouts this spring, which makes the $1MM workout bonus in his contract somewhat interesting. Injured players can still collect workout bonuses as long as they report for duty and participate in whatever activities they’re able to, so the only way Okung won’t earn that $1MM is if the Broncos are so discouraged by his recovery process that they cut him before – or during – their offseason workouts. The odds of that happening seem slim, unless Okung suffers a major setback in the next several weeks. If Denver was that concerned about his health, it’s unlikely the team would have signed him at all.
The real test for Okung will come in training camp and the preseason. If the Broncos don’t like what they see at that point, it would make sense for the team to cut its losses and avoid paying the left tackle $4MM in salary and bonus money. That total would become fully guaranteed if he’s on the roster for Week 1.
Being released during preseason roster cutdowns would probably represent the worst-case scenario for Okung on this deal. He’d only collect his $1MM workout bonus, and would be looking for work around the time when most teams already have their rosters set for the season. It’s possible – even likely – that there would be other teams desperate enough for a starting tackle that they’d roll the dice on Okung, despite Denver’s unwillingness to pay him, but he’d probably have to settle for a one-year deal at that point.
If that’s the worst-case scenario for Okung, what does the best-case scenario look like? Well, there’s a possibility that this deal could work out pretty well for him if he fully recovers from shoulder surgery and plays well in 2016.
Let’s say he makes the Broncos’ roster, and stays healthy all season, collecting an extra $3MM in incentives for playing 90% of Denver’s snaps. At that point, he’ll have earned $8MM in 2016, and the Broncos will be faced with a tough decision to make — do they commit to Okung for at least two more seasons, fully guaranteeing him another $20MM or so? If they choose to decline his option, he’ll have the opportunity to hit the market again, and a year removed from his shoulder injury, he could land a much better contract than he did in 2016.
Okung’s new deal certainly isn’t one of the most player-friendly agreements we’ve seen this month, but it’s not necessarily a total disaster. Considering he’s not even healthy at the moment, it’s not a huge surprise that Okung’s contract doesn’t look a little better. After all, Kelvin Beachum, another left tackle coming off a major injury (ACL tear in October), agreed to a similar contract with the Jaguars — it’s reportedly a one-year, $4.5MM deal with a four-year, $40MM option. The full details on Beachum’s pact haven’t been reported, and – unlike Okung’s – it probably includes some guaranteed money, but those guarantees are unlikely to be significant.
As was the case when he decided to hit the open market without an agent, Okung is betting on himself with this contract. In this case, he’s betting on his ability to get healthy and to return to his previous form. Given what we know about the 28-year-old’s injury history – he has never played a full 16-game season – it’s a move that could easily backfire, and won’t give him much of a security blanket if it does. If he has a strong 2016 season though, Okung will be in a position to earn a huge chunk of guaranteed money a year from now, when most of his fellow 2016 free agents will start to see the guarantees on their new contracts dwindling.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Russell Okung Contract Details
- Russell Okung, T (Broncos): Five years, $53MM. No guaranteed money. Option after year one. $2MM base salary, $1MM workout bonus, and $2MM Week 1 roster bonus for 2016. Up to $3MM in incentives available in 2016 ($1.5MM for 80% of snaps, $3MM for 90% of snaps). Option must be exercised between fifth day after Super Bowl and first day of 2017 league year. If option is exercised, $2MM salary for 2017 and $9.5MM salary for 2018 become fully guaranteed, and an $8MM roster bonus is paid out (links via Pro Football Talk, ESPN’s Josina Anderson, Tom Pelissero of USA Today, and Wilson)
Alfred Morris To Visit Cowboys
Free agent running back Alfred Morris will make his first visit of the offseason on Monday, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, who reports (via Twitter) that Morris will head to Dallas to meet with the Cowboys. Nick Eatman of DallasCowboys.com first tweeted that the Cowboys were expected to host Morris on Monday.
A sixth-round pick in the 2012 draft, Morris made an immediate impact during his rookie season in Washington, amassing the third-most carries in the NFL (335) and finishing second in both rushing yards (1,613) and touchdowns (13). Morris declined the next two years, though he was still a productive workhorse, with at least 265 carries, 1,000 yards and seven TDs in both seasons.
The wheels came off in 2015, however, as the 224-pounder recorded personal worsts in carries (202), rushing yards (751), yards per attempt (3.7) and scores (one). Despite his statistical drop-off last season, which coincided with the arrival of 2015 third-rounder Matt Jones, it’s worth mentioning that Morris played his fourth consecutive 16-game season.
According to Mike Jones of the Washington Post (Twitter link), Morris received some interest from the Broncos before they brought back C.J. Anderson. However, with Denver presumably out of the mix, Morris will make his first visit with the Cowboys, who re-signed Lance Dunbar on Thursday. Darren McFadden is currently projected to be the top back on Dallas’ depth chart.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.