Broncos Offseason: Ryan Clady on Trading Block?
By Tylor Walden
With the Denver Broncos signing former Seattle Seahawks’ offensive tackle Russell Okung, the team could be looking to trade offensive tackle Ryan Clady.
It appears that Ryan Clady did not budge with negotiations. Now he could find himself on a new team in 2016.
According to Ian Rapoport from NFL Network, the Broncos could look to trade the longtime left tackle to another team before the 2016 season begins. This does not come as much of a surprise.
The belief is the #Broncos now try to trade LT Ryan Clady, with Okung agreeing to terms in Denver.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 17, 2016
It appeared as if Clady was willing to restructure to stay with the Broncos. However, when it was reported that they were looking to cut his salary to around five million for this season. It proved to be too much lost money for Clady and it put the two sides at a standstill.
It really confuses me as to why Clady was not willing to restructure to that level. He has basically made a huge amount of money on his deal that he signed in 2013 while spending two of the three years rehabbing his injuries.
So, has he not saved a lot of money that he believes that he deserves to only lose a fraction of that? I guess, as the common theme has been, money in fact does talk. But he does not deserve the amount of money he was making.
Ryan Clady made a lot of money while being hurt, I get his stance, but it was also smart for the #Broncos to move on. This was a good move.
— Courtney Finnicum (@courtney883) March 17, 2016
He is set to earn $9.5 million in 2016. Even that seems excessive for a player who has missed two of the last three years into the deal. I do not blame John Elway for finding a team suited to trade for him.
If the Broncos were to release Clady, he would could $1.2 million dollars against the cap for the Broncos. It is not too much, but a trade would benefit the Broncos so that they do not have that dead cap hit.
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One team that the Broncos could attempt to come to terms with are the San Francisco 49ers. We know it has been an ongoing saga on a trade that would send Colin Kaepernick to the Broncos. But the 49ers have not budged. Perhaps throwing Clady into the mix will sweeten the deal just a little bit more.
Either way it is shaped, it appears as if Clady’s time in Denver is coming to an end. The question is how will the Broncos go about it? We will have to wait and see.