Report Reveals Broncos' Price Tag to Re-Sign DL Dre'Mont Jones
With the NFL Combine now officially in the rearview mirror, all attention in the NFL world now turns towards free agency. As the March 7 deadline to apply the franchise tag nears, the biggest question surrounding the Denver Broncos surrounds what will happen with talented interior pass rusher Dre’Mont Jones.
As we reported last week following GM George Paton’s Combine presser, the Broncos appear willing to let Jones hit the market rather than use the franchise tag. At a cost of $19.7 million guaranteed for Jones on the tag, it appears the Broncos have balked at that price tag and are willing to let him test free agency.
However, as Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer noted in his recent MMQB column, perhaps that $19.7M hit is closer to Jones’ market than many would have believed.
Breer talked about how the talent on the market this offseason features “a few good interior defensive line options, specifically noting that Jones, as well Philadelphia free agent Javon Hargrave, “probably won’t get $20 million per year, but they might not be far off.”
Given the demand for versatile pass rushers in today’s NFL, as well as Jones’ youth at just 26 years old, it’s no wonder he has a significant market this offseason. He ranked sixth in the NFL among defensive tackles in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, was the ninth-highest interior pass rusher with at least 700 snaps in pressures per snap (6.29%), and ninth in pressure per pass-rush snap (10.04%).
Jones is young and can get after the quarterback, so he is going to get paid. Perhaps the Broncos will go against recent reports and franchise-tag him to keep him in Denver for at least one more season.
Or, perhaps the Broncos work out a new contract and give Jones a big pay bump on a multi-year deal to keep him a part of this Broncos’ defense for the foreseeable future. It's possible, but with Jones set to hit the market and teams reportedly willing to pay him the franchise-tag equivalent per season, it seems increasingly likely that he'll be playing elsewhere in 2023.
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