Denver Broncos: Projecting market value of in-house free agents

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DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 16: Linebacker Shaquil Barrett #48 of the Denver Broncos dives to tackle wide receiver Jordy Nelson #82 of the Oakland Raiders in the second quarter of a game at Broncos Stadium at Mile High on September 16, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

Shaquil Barrett, EDGE

Age: 26

Shaquil Barrett has been an outstanding player for the Denver Broncos ever since he stepped foot on a practice field for the team.

Back when the Broncos picked him up as an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State in 2014, I thought he was better than any player the Broncos had drafted that year outside of Bradley Roby and Cody Latimer as a prospect.

Barrett broke into the Broncos’ active roster late in the 2014 season and ended up becoming a key piece of their dominant 2015 unit as a primary backup to Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware.

In four seasons with the team, he’s shown himself to be a great special teams player as well as an all-around edge player, though his sack numbers have never been high even when given a higher number of snaps.

In 2017, he played a career-high in snaps defensively and had just four sacks.

Barrett is such an interesting case because he’s going to get a lot of money based on his potential though no one should diminish his production to this point. He is an excellent run defender and it wouldn’t shock me to see him get a really strong contract offer to leave Denver.

Projected value: $7.5-8.5 million/year, 3-4 year deal

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