Broncos Urged by NFL Insider to Pay Phillip Lindsay Instead of an Outside RB
Since the regular season ended, the Denver Broncos have sent mixed signals to running back Phillip Lindsay. GM John Elway, in his end-of-season press conference, said that he is considering giving Lindsay a contract extension this season.
That was followed by a report from 9NEWS' Mike Klis that the Broncos are looking for a 'starter type' running back on the free-agent market. Next thing we know, Lindsay's at a Denver Nuggets game with head coach Vic Fangio.
'Tis the lying season in the NFL, after all. So perhaps these mixed signals are strictly for appearances. Perhaps Elway is playing 4D chess and is working a psychological smoke-screen on the other 31 teams to obfuscate what the Broncos plan to do in free agency and/or the NFL Draft.
On Wednesday, CBS Sports' NFL insider Jason La Canfora pointed out this logical fallacy permeating Dove Valley, urging the Broncos to do right by Lindsay and get him extended.
One team that seemed determined to spend some money when the market fully opened is the Denver Broncos. I just can't figure out why, according to some reports coming out of Denver, they would do so for a running back.
In a very similar situation as another recent undrafted free agent -- Austin Ekeler -- who just signed a multi-year extension with the Chargers, last I checked. I'm pretty sure that Lindsay is the first undrafted free agent to make the Pro Bowl as a rookie and the first ever to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his first two years.
Even La Canfora has picked up the buzz that Denver is looking at free-agent RBs. But he rightly shifts gears, pointing to the deal Ekeler just got from the Chargers.
Both Lindsay and Ekeler are former college free agents who've absolutely out-kicked their coverage in the NFL. But Lindsay has a couple of accolades even Ekeler doesn't. Namely, he's a Pro Bowler, he's rushed for 1,000 yards and he did so in back-to-back seasons to open his career. La Canfora goes on.
And, if I recall, he has done that despite playing behind a brutal offensive line and with rampant instability at the quarterback position and not a whole lot else you can count on at the QB position. Why the Broncos wouldn't already be deeply engaged in negotiations with him, frankly, baffles me, especially if they are in fact eager to dump big bucks into some older running back. Then again, the Broncos haven't yet sorted through their situation with Joe Flacco yet, either, and haven't had much success with roster transactions lately and are coming off their worst three-year run in modern franchise history.
Lindsay is ninth in the NFL with 2,048 rushing yards the past two years. He is tied for 10th in rushing touchdowns. He has made absolute peanuts. He is one of the best stories in the NFL, living with his parents for a while in Denver area after growing up there a huge Broncos fan. He is awesome off the field. If there is a reason not to invest in this kind of kid, someone tell me what it is?
Unquestionably, Lindsay has already established himself as one of the league's young stars and he's done so on the cheap and against the grain of playing on two non-competitive teams and behind lackluster O-line play — and here's the kicker — without a stable quarterback situation, as La Canfora elucidates.
So what type of deal should the Broncos offer Lindsay? La Canfora has a framework.
Why wouldn't a Devonta Freeman-type deal be in the offing? Instead, as best I glean, there is nothing cooking. I just don't get it. Denver needs help along the offensive and defensive lines. It needs more pass catchers. It needs infrastructure for young QB Drew Lock. I would have thought Lindsay would have a deal by now. Instead, nothing seems close, and the Broncos have me baffled, again.
Freeman signed a five-year, $41.25M contract with the Atlanta Falcons back in the summer of 2017. That pays him just north of $8M per year, which is double what the highest-paid RB in Denver has made during the Elway front-office era.
The question is, would Lindsay be worth such a sum? It goes against every fiber of my being to pay top-dollar to a RB, even one as special and unique as Lindsay.
$8M/year is bridge too far for me, even for Lindsay. However, the blueprint provided by the Chargers in the Ekeler deal would be vastly more doable, and likely more reasonable to Elway and company.
Ekeler got $24.5M over four years, which is an APY of $6.125M. It's a deal the Broncos can get done and it would be timely for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that, as the team is learning with star safety Justin Simmons, if you wait until the 11th hour and the player's trajectory continues to climb, so does the cost — exponentially.
So, bite the bullet now. Do right by Lindsay and get him locked in with the full faith and support of the same Broncos organization that manipulated him during the pre-draft process back in 2018 and failed to come through on their promises. Thanks to Lindsay's mother, he forgave the Broncos their misdeeds and chose to sign in Denver and now's a good time to repay him for that positive ju-ju.
Especially considering that Lindsay has carried the Broncos' offense for the last two years. Get it done, Elway. Lindsay has a baby on the way and diapers cost dolla-dolla bills.
Unfortunately, if the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, odds are, Elway will wait to pay Lindsay until he has to. But after allowing it to become an offseason storyline, which Elway could have quashed out of the gates during his end-of-season presser, the Broncos would be remiss to let Lindsay twist in the wind too long without ponying up.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
