The Denver Broncos had an extremely successful season in 2012 despite losing in the playoffs to the Ravens and one of the biggest reasons was the fact that Ryan Clady was protecting Peyton Manning and now the team wants to ensure that he continues to do that for the next few years.
According to Pro Football Talk, the two sides have started speaking about a long term deal as the deadline for franchised players to negotiate long term is that day. If not, the team will have to wait until after the season. Clady and Bills safety Jairus Byrd are the franchised players yet to sign and sources said that the Broncos will make Clady and offer this week.
Clady helped the Broncos finish 13-3 last season and he was a huge reason why Peyton Manning was able to come back from his neck surgeries, as he did an excellent job at keeping defenders away from the quarterback. Manning passed for 4,659 yards and 37 touchdowns and led the Broncos to the playoffs, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens in double overtime.
Clady has been one of the most consistent left tackles in all of football during his time with the Broncos and he has played in every game over the past five years since being drafted. He had offseason surgery on his right shoulder and will miss some offseason workouts. The Broncos had the fifth-rated passing offense in the league and one main reason for that was the play of Clady. Last season, the team tried to extend his contract with a five-year, $50 million offer with $28 million in guarantees.
Clady is coming back from offseason surgery and rehab and while he has not worked out with the team this spring, he expects to be back in camp for the summer. The two sides have been working on a new contract since last season and the team appears to be waiting to see how the surgery went and how he recovers. Even if he attends training camp, he may not be well enough to participate.
John Elway said the team wants to keep Clady, as he has turned into one of the best left tackles and went to the Pro Bowl three ties after being selected 12th in 2008. He has yet to miss a game in the league and if he signed his tender he could come into camp, but he wants to get a new deal.
"I think we'll wait and see how that comes out," Elway said at the time. "Obviously we don't want to jump right in because that's always, especially for a tackle, those shoulders are always tough and we'll see how he comes out of it. But we don't anticipate any problems with that. My understanding is the surgery went well and our training crew says that things look good so we don't anticipate any problems but we'll see how he comes out of it."