Shelby Harris leads a list of Denver Broncos players deserving of new contracts.
The Denver Broncos have improved to 2-3 with a victory on the road over the New England Patriots.
Although at 2-3, things aren’t exactly peachy in Denver at the moment, they are much better than they were three weeks ago when the team was 0-3 and the photoshopped images of Trevor Lawrence in Broncos gear started popping up on Twitter.
Considering Drew Lock has missed the majority of three of the first five games, the Denver Broncos’ 2-3 record with a great road win over New England is solid, and even in losses, the Broncos have not looked like a bad team.
With the exception of the Buccaneers game, of course.
The Broncos may not be a well-oiled machine, but they have a number of players who have proven their worth to the squad, and guys who are most definitely worth keeping around beyond the 2020 season.
Which players on the Broncos’ roster right now are deserving of contract extensions?
The list starts with the player who might have the best hands on the team…
1. Shelby Harris, DL
Pretty much throughout the entire 2020 offseason, Broncos Country had said their goodbyes to Shelby Harris.
Since 2017, Harris has been a tremendous value to the Denver Broncos, racking up sacks, TFLs, batted passes, blocked kicks — you name it — for a very team-friendly price.
After the 2019 season, he went into unrestricted free agency with surprisingly very little interest from outside teams. The Broncos came in with an offer of one-year, $3 million, and somehow got Harris back into the fold.
He was certainly worth at least three times that amount on the open market, but no team signed him to a long-term (or short-term) deal.
The Broncos are now in a position where Harris has become a focal point of the defensive line, and a playmaker whose contributions are unequaled anywhere else on the roster.
In five games this season, he’s already got eight pressures, seven QB hits, 2.5 sacks, and a variety of batted passes yet again, including one that hung in the air long enough for DeShawn Williams to pick it off.
https://twitter.com/Broncos/status/1318020545057673216
Harris has been fantastic in just over one season with Vic Fangio as his defensive coordinator, and the fit in Denver for him is obviously tremendous. The Broncos should try to get Harris at least a three-year extension, similar to what they gave to Mike Purcell.
The value is going to be tougher to gauge, but Harris deserves a substantial raise and stability with the Broncos.
2. Garett Bolles, LT
The Denver Broncos have been through a number of ups and downs with Garett Bolles.
When they hired Mike Munchak as their offensive line coach in 2019, the hope was that Munchak could not only work wonders with an offensive line that has struggled badly since at least 2015 if not longer but really work wonders with the 2017 first-round pick.
Bolles has been a penalty machine since he came into the league, but something clicked for him down the final five games of the 2019 season.
He has picked up where he left off in 2019 to open the 2020 season. The Broncos decided not to pick up Bolles’ fifth-year option on his rookie contract, which would have been worth around $11 million in 2021, fully guaranteed for injury.
That means that if Bolles would have some kind of season-ending injury in 2020 and couldn’t pass a physical before the new league year, that $11 million would fully guarantee and count against the team’s cap space.
If Bolles would stay healthy, that $11 million could be wiped away completely with no dead money.
The Broncos apparently didn’t want to risk the possibility of him getting injured and getting that fully guaranteed 2021 salary, not to mention they probably weren’t sure going into the 2020 season if they wanted Bolles as the left tackle beyond this season.
Over the course of his last 10 regular season games between 2019 and 2020, Bolles has played much cleaner football than any of us are used to seeing and he’s earned a new contract with the Broncos.
The price to retain him is going to be higher than it was even six months ago, but that’s the nature of the business. Bolles has earned a second contract in Denver, and the Broncos should get that done before he has a chance to leave.
3. Tim Patrick, WR
The time has come to talk about extending wide receiver Tim Patrick, though, in one major way, the Broncos hold all of the leverage.
Patrick is playing on a one-year, $750,000 contract as an exclusive rights free agent. The Broncos have Patrick as a restricted free agent in the 2021 offseason, which is a huge luxury if you are able to get the right kinds of players on those deals.
Restricted free agents can be given different levels of contract ‘tenders’ each offseason, the most expensive usually coming in around $3 million. If a team decides to give a player the highest restricted free agent tender, that player can still shop their services around in free agency, but if they get signed to an offer sheet, their team has a chance to match the contract offer or receive a second-round draft pick in compensation.
More often than not, teams are not willing to give that second-round pick up for players who get that RFA tender.
The Broncos have that option with Patrick, and the way he’s played, they will likely exercise it.
Still, the possibility of just locking in Patrick at a little bit higher of a price for more years is on the table, and if the Broncos wanted to do that they very well could.
Patrick has shown tremendous value to the team with back-to-back 100-yard games. He is also an excellent special teams player.
The strides Patrick has taken in his game in recent years could lead to a multi-year deal.
4. Justin Simmons, S
Justin Simmons would be much higher on this list if the Broncos could negotiate with him during the season.
Still, it should be pointed out that re-signing Simmons is a no-brainer and he’s going to probably be the highest paid player on this list, regardless if he signs with Denver or some other team.
Simmons has been one of the best safeties in the NFL over the past couple of seasons, and he does so much for the Broncos’ defense.
It would be detrimental to the Broncos’ overall defensive development in two years with Vic Fangio establishing his system if the team decided to let Simmons test the free agent waters.
As much as players hate it, the Broncos do still have another franchise tag available for Simmons, and though the price would be high, they can use that as leverage in negotiations.
Still, it would be shocking to see Simmons accept any kind of deal under $14-15 million per season, and the Broncos have to decide if that price tag is worth having one of the best players and leaders on the team for the long-term.
Who else?
Phillip Lindsay, RB
The situation with Lindsay is very similar to that of Tim Patrick.
The Broncos have the restricted free agent option with Lindsay in 2021, and that’s a major reason why his deal hasn’t been re-done like John Elway mentioned it could early in the 2020 offseason.
Because the restricted free agent option is out there, the Broncos aren’t rushing to the negotiation table to pay Lindsay a ton of money. Still, he’s shown his worth to the team over and over again. When he rushes for over 100 yards, the team is undefeated (6-0).
The Broncos have to know Lindsay is a long-term piece. It’s more likely we see him get the RFA tender to stick around, but the Broncos could give Lindsay a raise on that RFA tender in exchange for a longer deal at a team-friendly price.
Courtland Sutton, WR
Keep it on the radar.
Sutton is recovering from a torn ACL, but he’s entering a contract year in 2021 and is an obvious long-term piece for the team. The Broncos do have the option of the franchise tag with Sutton in 2022, but they could just as easily plan on starting a long-term deal that year instead and keeping the WR1 in-house.
Von Miller, EDGE
Von Miller is in a contract year in 2021. As a matter of fact, he has a club contract option for 2021 meaning his status with the team beyond this season is not certain.
Although the possibility of the Broncos declining Miller’s option exists, it should be off the table.
With a starting quarterback on a rookie contract, declining Miller’s option should be an absolute last resort. Instead, the Broncos should focus on re-signing him to keep him in Denver for the foreseeable future.
Miller is a Broncos legend and the best player in the team’s modern era. The Broncos could re-work Miller’s deal to be a more team-friendly cap number in 2021 and get him under contract beyond 2021.