John Elway Provides Update on Contract Negotiations with Broncos' S Justin Simmons
Sitting in his make-shift war room in his home, GM John Elway is still covering all the bases when it comes to building the Denver Broncos. While the impending NFL Draft is certainly a high priority for Elway, he hasn't neglected the ongoing contract negotiations with All-Pro safety Justin Simmons.
In fact, in his annual pre-draft presser on Monday, Elway revealed those talks are ramping up considerably.
“We’ve given them an offer, they gave us an offer back and so we’re in active negotiations with Justin,” Elway revealed via his virtual press conference.
Many had thought that talks had possibly cooled off between the two parties, but it seems the wheels are still very much still in motion towards cutting a deal for the Broncos emerging 26-year-old defensive leader.
And it’s with good reason that some progress is being made, because a hard deadline is set in stone for July 15 to get a deal hashed out between the parties. Should that fail to happen, the star safety would have to play out the entire 2020 season under his franchise tag designation which would pay him $11.545 million.
Elway has past history when he comes to using the franchise tag, and he tends to work out long-term contracts. As far back as 2012, the GM tagged kicker Matt Prater but subsequently worked out a multi-year deal before the deadline.
In 2013, Elway tagged Pro Bowl LT Ryan Clady, but ripped it up in favor of a longer agreement later that summer. Elway continued in the same vein by also tagging and signing long-term contracts with both WR Demaryius Thomas in 2015 and LB Von Miller in 2016.
Simmons himself expressed a degree of confidence when he spoke at the end of last season, and before the franchise tag had even been applied, that it wouldn’t hinder the bigger overall goal of garnering a multi-year deal.
“Anytime that’s been used, long term deals have been done,” Simmons said in December.
Subsequently, talks have remained, at least on the face of it, to have still been open and cordial with all roads now leading to a firm exchange of terms being put across the boardroom table. For any deal to happen, it requires the desire and willingness to get things done.
Elway has been clear on his intentions dating back to mid-March when he applied the tag.
“We remain focused on reaching a long term contract agreement with Justin, and he’s a big priority for us,” Elway maintained. “This is a placeholder in that process and our goal is the same – to make sure Justin is a Bronco for a long time.”
This next phase of contract tennis between the chief negotiators could see Elway get a counter offer somewhere in the region of $14M per year in order to secure Simmons future with the club. Simmons would likely to jump all over that deal if APY offer of that magnitude materialized.
Already Simmons has blossomed into a fine player since he was drafted in the third round of the 2016 draft. The former Boston College star has an emerging safety pairing with Kareem Jackson bordering on elite that makes keeping him around somewhat of a front office no-brainer.
Maybe some inventive contract structuring and clever use of guaranteed money could open up some salary-cap flexibility to work out an extension with Phillip Lindsay. You never know what collateral benefits could be.
Securing the team's youthful core on long-term deals makes prudent future salary cap business for Elway. If the Broncos can get Simmons back in the building on a long-term deal and further strengthen the roster with as many as 10 draft picks on Thursday, it will turn into quite a week for Elway and company.
Follow Keith on Twitter @KeithC_NFL and @MileHighHuddle.
