There isn't really much drama for the Denver Broncos in the days leading up to training camp, where rookies will report on Wednesday, July 16, and veterans will report on July 22. Even without much drama, there is a lot going on off the field for the Broncos right now, including a couple of prominent players on the roster who aren't yet signed.
Specifically, we're talking about the team's top two picks in the 2025 NFL Draft: Jahdae Barron and RJ Harvey.
Barron is one of just two first-round picks remaining unsigned in the entire NFL, the only other being Cincinnati Bengals rookie Shemar Stewart, who has been in a really ugly situation this offseason. Barron is expected to get a deal worth about $18 million over four years with a fifth-year team option, but the hang-up (or hang-ups) at this point remain unknown.
Jahdae Barron, RJ Harvey remain unsigned as Broncos training camp looms
This year's rookie class is receiving unprecedented signing bonuses and up-front money compared to previous rookie classes, and Barron has the added bonus of arguably being considered the 1st player drafted at his position in the 2025 class. Maybe he's looking for a $10 million signing bonus, but who knows? We can only speculate at this point.
Another funny situation right now is that nearly the entire second round remains unsigned across the NFL landscape. RJ Harvey's situation is not a unique one as almost every pick from picks 35 to 64 is not yet under contract.
And at this point, there's really no reason to be worried about things with either Barron or Harvey. Those two guys both showed up to all of their rookie minicamp, OTAs, and mandatory minicamp. There's no holdout happening as of this point in time, and those two guys have insurance policies protecting them.
But will they report when rookies are due to report if they don't have contracts? If it gets to that point, we might have our clearest sign yet that the negotiations behind the scenes are not going well. Our first indicator of that is the fact that they don't have deals at this point, but that also doesn't have to be the result of negotiations being sour.
I'm sure details will emerge at some point, but the contract situations of a wide variety of players is what's really looming as a dark cloud over Denver Broncos training camp at this point. There will always be players with expiring deals and you'll always be facing tough situations with one player or another. But this is a band the Broncos want to keep together.
First and foremost, they need to get their rookie class fully signed. Barron and Harvey will get their contracts eventually, and I would expect these deals across the league to start coming through very soon as teams and rookies report for camp.