The Denver Broncos are one of the many teams dealing with a top wide receiver in need of a new contract. The market has not been set in a few years which is causing hesitation with the Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals to get their stars under a new deal before the season starts. The Broncos were forced to hand Thomas a franchise tag which has not made the receiver very happy. Team vice president John Elway is hopeful a deal can get done before Week 1.
According to ESPN.com, Elway still believes a contract for Thomas is realistic. Elway told the media that he has met with Thomas' representation, but would not hint at whether things were going well or not.
"No, no update. Like I said, we want Demaryius back, so we're going to do everything to make that happen," Elway said, via ESPN.com.
At the moment, the Broncos are not thrilled with Thomas. After getting hit with the one-year, $12.823 million franchise tag, Thomas has not been seen at Broncos' offseason workouts. He also skipped Peyton Mannings' annual passing camp down at Duke. Manning defended the wide receiver saying he needed to do what was best for himself. Thomas told the media that he has been in Georgia working out and would stay there until training camp or a long-term deal is agreed upon. That does not make Elway very happy.
"To be dead honest with you: I see absolutely zero value with him being away from here," Elway said. "Zero value, for him. There's no value for him not to be here with his teammates, so as far as negotiations and him and a new deal and what's going on, we'd like to get something done, but by him being away from here, there is zero value not only to us, but to him. To me it makes no sense.''
The Broncos suddenly have a lot more to deal with this offseason than originally expected. During rookie mini-camp, the team's new tight end Jeff Heuerman tore his ACL and is not expected to miss the remainder of the season. That leaves the Broncos with another hole that must be filled. The team could try and sign someone like Jermaine Gresham or Nick Kasa while they also have Virgil Green and Owen Daniels on the roster.
One position that is set is the running back spot. Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman return healthy and plan on competing against CJ Anderson who excelled last year. With Manning healthy, everyone must be involved to get the Broncos back to the Super Bowl.
