Tuesday the Denver Broncos announced a big contract extension and it was exactly the one no one was looking for. Linebacker Brandon Marshall agreed to a four-year, $32 million deal with $20 million guaranteed and a $10 million signing bonus.
Thrilled that our team has agreed to terms with LB Brandon Marshall on a four-year extension. He's become an integral part of our defense.
— John Elway (@johnelway) June 14, 2016
And that’s fine. Marshall has been a key contributor on the team for the last two seasons, started 29 games and recorded 171 tackles in that span. He’s a good player and he’s worth keeping. But, and you already know what I’m going to talk about, where the hell is the Von Miller deal?
Marshall is a fun NFL success story. He was a fifth-round pick in 2012 by the Jacksonville Jaguars who cut him the very next offseason. He landed with Denver in 2013 and played in all of one game, recording three tackles. The very next year he would start 13 games. Now he’s rich. See? Fun.
But Miller is still out there twisting in the wind. He’s not signed his exclusive rights franchise tag yet and the Broncos haven’t come anywhere near what they need to sign him in guaranteed money. To say what they offered was an insult might seem outrageous, considering the amount of money involved $114 million over six years with a little over $39 million guaranteed, but Miller didn’t create the market. And he’s not going to sign for that when a guy like Fletcher Cox just got $63 million guaranteed.
Fletcher Cox, PAID.
Von Miller is next.How will Von's deal compare? https://t.co/HWXhRPR0d7 pic.twitter.com/2vBIUiQgdd
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 14, 2016
Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe agrees with me. Sharpe was on hand when last year’s crop of Broncos received their Super Bowl 50 rings. When asked about Miller, he didn’t toe the company line.
“You know what the going rate is,” Sharpe said. “I understand where John is coming from. He’s not thinking like a player any more. He’s thinking like an executive. That’s why he’s been so successful at this… I understand he’s looking out for the best interest of the Denver Broncos, but he must understand Von Miller is a business also. He’s looking out for the best interest of Von Miller.
Miller is just one of four Top 10 picks from the 2011 NFL draft that wasn’t offered an extension before he could be eligible for free agency. The other three are Aldon Smith, who washed out with the San Francisco 49ers with a mental breakdown, Jake Locker, who has already retired from the NFL and the Tennessee Titans and Blaine Gabbert, who washed out with the Jacksonville Jaguars but might have found a new home in San Francisco.
Aqib Talib at the Broncos' ring ceremony. (via Von Miller's snapchat.) pic.twitter.com/xiYRRtV1eB
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) June 13, 2016
In fact, as far as star players from that draft, and there were many, you have to go all the way down to pick No. 30 with the New York Jets and Muhammad Wilkerson to find a player having a similar issue getting a long-term deal out of a team. Wilkerson is in the same boat as Miller and the Fletcher Cox deal with the Philadelphia Eagles just added fuel to the fire. Now he’s; threatening to sit out of training camp and hasn’t signed his franchise tag either.
The Jets, reportedly, won’t give Wilkerson Cox-type money and are content to pay him the franchise tag for one season. That can at least make some kind of sense for them since they have Sheldon Richardson and last year’s first round pick Leonard Williams who play the same position. They don’t want Wilkerson long term. They just want him in 2016.
Denver has two decent outside linebacker understudies in last year’s first-round pick Shane Ray and third-year Shaquil Barrett. But Ray wasn’t drafted to be Miller’s replacement. He was drafted to step in for DeMarcus Ware, probably in the 2017 season. Barrett had a solid season as a back up, but who knows where his ceiling is?
Just cause Von Miller talks at impasse doesn't mean Elway not working. This is a good deal for Marshall https://t.co/AXMqcmDkBP
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) June 14, 2016
It all adds up to a confusing offseason for the Broncos who let Brock Osweiler walk in free agency and seem content to hand the keys to a Super Bowl team to Mark Sanchez or even Trevor Siemian. Cornerback Aqib Talib just got shot (maybe by himself) in the leg a few days ago.
And unless second-round pick Adam Gotsis out of Georgia Tech is ready to step in, they still have no replacement for departed free agent Malik Jackson on the defensive line. It’s the craziest offseason for a Super Bowl champ I can remember.
