On Thursday, Broncos GM John Elway told reporters that they still want to get a long-term deal in place with WR Demaryius Thomas and they’ve been working on a new contract, per Jeff Legwold.
However, Elway stressed that Thomas’ decision to work out on his own instead of with the team “makes no sense.”
“To be dead honest with you, I see absolutely zero value with him being away from here,” Elway said, per Legwold. “Him being away from here there is zero value not only to us, but to him. To me it makes no sense.’’
Elways added: “If he gets hurt here, he’s covered, if he gets hurt somewhere else he’s not.”
Denver elected to use their franchise tag on Thomas back in early March to prevent him from testing the open market as an unrestricted free agent.
The franchise tag will run them roughly $13 million guaranteed for the 2015 season. However, it also buys them some additional time to negotiate a long-term contract before the July deadline to negotiate with franchise players.
Thomas, 27, is clearly one of the best receivers in the game, so this will end up being a major contract when all is said and done.
I’m sure both sides would like to get a long-term deal done sooner rather than later, as there will be risk for both parties if Thomas enters the season without a long-term agreement.
In 2014, Thomas caught 111 passes for 1,619 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns over the course of 16 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 5 receiver in the league out of 110 qualifying players.
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