Denver Broncos, Chris Harris Jr. have exchanged contract proposals
The Denver Broncos and star cornerback Chris Harris Jr. have reportedly exchanged contract proposals, a positive sign for both sides.
John Elway vowed he and the Denver Broncos would talk about a new contract for star cornerback Chris Harris Jr. sometime after the NFL Draft, and by golly if he hasn’t made good on that promise to this point.
Harris is in the final year of a contract extension he signed back in 2014, which at the time made him one of the highest paid no. 2 cornerbacks in the league.
Now, with a team-friendly cap hit under $8 million and no years beyond 2019 on his deal, Harris wants more money.
It’s completely understandable why he’s held out of team workouts thus far, considering he’s 30 this year, on the last year of his deal, and has been on a bargain basement contract for the last four years.
According to Mike Klis, this ugly situation that could have ended in a trade during the 2019 NFL Draft is making some slight progress toward an actual resolution.
At this point, the Broncos’ options and Harris’ options remain the same as they were prior to the 2019 NFL Draft.
1. Harris can continue holding out
2. The Broncos can pay him what he wants
3. Harris could be traded
The Broncos had their eyes on some of the corners in this year’s rookie class, but opted to pass on all of them. The fact that Harris wasn’t traded during the 2019 draft leads me to believe the Broncos would rather let Harris’ deal play out this year and let him walk with a 2021 compensatory pick coming their way, potentially.
The Broncos are already budgeting for Harris to be on the roster. If he forfeits game checks? That’s money out of his pocket.
Trading Harris helps Harris and the trading team, but not the Broncos.
Re-signing Harris seems like a win for the Broncos and a win for the player, but time would be the best indicator there. Harris does deserve to be paid. No one forced him to take a hometown discount on his first deal but the fact that he did has not gone underappreciated.
He helped the Broncos win a Super Bowl by taking less money.
That will undoubtedly be taken into account, but at the same time, this is a player entering his 30s and John Elway saw firsthand what kind of mistake that can be.
The great Champ Bailey signed a contract extension with the Broncos at the age of 33, one of the first long-term deals John Elway was part of putting together. That deal did not exactly work out great for the Broncos, though Bailey played in a different era of football and was three years older than Harris is now.
If the Broncos could get Harris under contract through his age 34 season with most of the guaranteed money in the first three years, that would be their best bet for a mutual resolution here. That would give Harris an extension of three years beyond 2019 and would also give the Broncos flexibility moving forward.
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Harris wants to be paid $15 million per season, which would make him one of the highest paid corners in NFL history.