The Denver Broncos have used the franchise tag on Demaryius Thomas in an expected move on Monday and now the team will try and negotiate a long term deal for the receiver to return for Peyton Manning, who is getting a contract restructure of his own to free up monday and this comes as the team could target names like Jacoby Jones, Brian Hartline, James Casey, Jordan Cameron or Owen Daniels on the free agent market.
The Broncos were expecting to use the franchise tag on Thomas and according to Adam Schefter at ESPN.com, the team tagged him before the Monday deadline. According to Jeff Legwold, the Broncos are still looking to get Thomas in on a long term contract despite using the tag, as they feel he is the player they want long term at wide receiver. Thomas has been the top target for Peyton Manning over the past few years and he has shown that he can be a dominant player in this league.
Last season Thomas set career highs with 111 catches and 1619 yards and he also had 11 touchdowns. Thomas has put together three dominant seasons and over that time he has had 35 touchdown catches. In 2012-13 Thomas had back to back 92 catch, 1430 yard seasons and that has put him in the upper echelon of players and now he is expecting to get paid. Thomas and the Broncos could be talking for a while, as the two sides now have until July to reach a long term deal.
The franchise tag is a one-year, $12.823 million tender for wide receivers and Thomas joins Dez Bryant as another WR that was tagged on Monday. The Giants also tagged Jason Pierre-Paul, while Justin Houston and Stephen Gostkowski also were tagged. Manning is coming back after another big season, but the Broncos would like to lower his cap number from his $19 million salary. According to Bleacher Report, the team may turn part of Manning's salary into a bonus and that could clear at least $7 million from the cap.
The Broncos have both Thomas and Julius Thomas hitting free agency and the Denver Post reports that the tight end is likely to leave. Thomas is likely going to be targeted by teams like the Browns, Jaguars and Raiders, as they have tons of cap space and a need at tight end. Thomas has been a steady target for Manning at tight end, making 24 touchdown catches in the past two seasons combined. If Thomas leaves, the Broncos may look at free agents, as they also have Virgil Green and Jacob Tamme hitting the market.
According to Jeff Legwold at ESPN, James Casey was released and he could be an option to reunite with former head coach Gary Kubiak to replace Thomas, while Owen Daniels, Jermaine Gresham and Jordan Cameron are also on the market. The Broncos have a number of players hitting free agency, including Terrance Knighton, Wes Welker and Orlando Franklin. The Broncos could look at adding Jacoby Jones or Brian Hartline to take over for Welker, as he is not expected back and both veterans were recently released.