Broncos Have No Meeting Schedule With Julius Thomas, Likely To Reach Open Market

According to Mike Klis of the Denver Post, the odds of free agent TE Julius Thomas returning the Broncos next year aren’t promising.

Klis mentions that while the Broncos will meet with the representatives for a number of free agent players, there is currently no meeting scheduled with Thomas’ agent, Frank Bauer.

All indications are that Thomas is prepared to test the open market in the coming weeks.

Klis points out that the Broncos previously offered Thomas a multi-year contract that would have paid him an annual salary of $8 million, and left him as the No. 3 highest paid tight end in the league behind Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski.

Thomas is in a decent position, as he’ll be the best available tight end in free agency this year. On top of that, teams will have plenty of money to spend, so if that’s a priority for him, there is a decent chance he could come close to or even beat that previous offer.

Jeff Legwold of ESPN previously mentioned Thomas’ representatives have made it clear that he wants to be among the highest-paid tight ends in the NFL.

Legwold expects Thomas to draw interest on the open market from teams who see him as a “priority target.”

If the Broncos do end up losing Thomas, Klis lists Jordan Cameron, Owen Daniels, Jermaine Gresham and Charles Clay as some potential options for Denver.

One concern regarding Thomas is the fact that he only had five catches over the final seven games of the season.

Thomas, 26, may have had a disappointing end to the season, but he still caught 43 passes for 489 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns over the course of 13 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 13 tight end in the league out of 67 qualifying players.

We have Thomas listed as the No. 9 player in our Top 75 Free Agents list.