Denver Broncos Set to Break the Bank for Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas

May 28, 2013; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas (88) before the start of organized team activities at the Broncos training facility. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Post is reporting that the Denver Broncos have opened contract negotiations with star pass catchers Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas, and that GM John Elway says they hope to have deals done before training camp:

"“We’ve already talked to them to see if we can do something before the beginning of the year,” said Broncos general manager John Elway, who was here Monday to present former Denver Post, Sports Illustrated and ESPN writer Rick Reilly into the National Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame. “We’d like to get something done before the beginning of camp. We don’t want to do anything once training camp starts. They’re both in their last years and we’d like for them to stay and be Broncos for a long time.”"

Combined, the two players could be looking at making a combined $20 million annually with Demaryius Thomas commanding around $12-14 million per season and Julius around $6-8 million.

Despite the ridiculous numbers on the surface, the Broncos will actually be looking at a bargain in both players in the coming years. With prices of premiere positions like WR and TE inflating over the last couple of years, as well as the projected vast increase in salary cap numbers, those figures will seem more than reasonable in two or three years.

These are two players the Broncos absolutely have to lock up long-term. They let go of Eric Decker who signed with the New York Jets and they didn’t even offer him a contract. That was due large in part to the fact that they knew they would have to re-sign some other premiere offensive players and this is the culmination of that.

If the Broncos can get deals done before training camp, it will add an exclamation point to one of the most exciting offseasons in team history.