Denver Broncos: Ja’Wuan James signing on with the Ravens
The Denver Broncos moved on from former big-money free agent offensive tackle Ja’Wuan James earlier in the 2021 offseason. James signed a four-year, $51 million deal with the Broncos in the 2019 offseason, but only played 63 snaps for the team.
He hurt his knee in the 2019 season opener against the Raiders, made his way back to the field for part of a game against the Colts, felt discomfort in his injured knee, and sat out the rest of the season. James, at the time, was medically cleared by the Denver Broncos’ staff but still didn’t feel comfortable enough to play.
Then James opted out of the pandemic-impacted 2020 season. After spending time working out at the team facility in 2021, James took the NFLPA’s advice to work out on his own and wound up suffering a season-ending Achilles injury. Because the injury happened away from the team facility, James’s contract guarantees were voided and the Denver Broncos made him a post-June 1 release.
Now, James has resurfaced with the Baltimore Ravens, who have reportedly signed him to a two-year contract worth up to $8 million.
Ja'Wuan James’ agents, Bill Johnson and Matt Pope, negotiated the two-year deal with the Ravens that includes $500,000 in guaranteed money this year, per source. So the Ravens are paying him $500k to rehab this year and to have him under contract north of $8 million next year. https://t.co/xXe4ESwqYm
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 7, 2021
James will spend the 2021 season rehabbing in Baltimore before competing for a spot in the 2022 offseason.
All things considered, this is a decent low-risk move by the Ravens if they can actually get James out on the field, which has proven to be difficult to do over the last few years.
In addition to signing on with the Ravens and getting $500,000 in guaranteed money for this season, James has filed a grievance and is going to try to prove collusion between the league and the Denver Broncos.
Breaking: Former Broncos OT Ja'Wuan James files grievance seeking $15 million, hints at possible collusion between league and team. https://t.co/mbElZ3crqQ
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) June 7, 2021
According to the report from Pro Football Talk, James’ claim is that the Denver Broncos’ facility was not compliant with Colorado’s COVID-19 guidelines.
The primary issue with this is that it was not the Broncos who advised James to work out away from the team facility. He followed NFLPA advice to do that until the NFLPA was pleased with the league’s COVID protocols, then suffered the injury offsite.
DaeSean Hamilton also suffered a season-ending injury away from the team facility, though at this point it’s uncertain if he received an injury settlement from the team.
The Denver Broncos guaranteed James $32 million at the time of his signing and $10 million of that was to come in 2021 with $5 million coming in 2022. The injury he suffered offsite voided those guarantees and James obviously is doing what he can to try and get it back.
In the meantime, he will be on the Baltimore Ravens’ roster working his way back to full health and hopefully playing sometime in 2022. By that time, it will have been three years since James has played the game against top competition.
What once looked like a promising free agent signing has turned into an ugly situation for the Denver Broncos.