Brandon Marshall’s Full Contract Extension Details

It took quite a while for this information to come out, but Jason got it up to OTC last night:

Early reports were accurate on two main details: that Marshall got a $10 million signing bonus, and that his base salary based upon his RFA tender was not changed.  However, his 2016 cap number is not unchanged: that increases to $4.553 million.  This leaves the Broncos with less than $3 million in room.  However, at this time of year I would not worry about that much.  Even possible Von Miller and Emmanuel Sanders extensions can be crafted to match or even lower their 2016 cap numbers, and the Broncos also have a ton of 2017 cap space.

As for the deal itself, it’s a good one for both sides.  The Broncos were able to get Marshall to accept that since they had RFA rights over Marshall in 2016, that his compensation in that year should reflect the RFA tender.  (In contrast, the Jaguars decidedly ceded that ground with Allen Hurns.)  But if we understand 2016 as a year in favor of the Broncos, and consider the practical start of the contract to be in 2017, putting him as the sixth highest paid ILB by APY, and fourth highest by fully guaranteed money.  In particular, he was given a better deal than Danny Trevathan got on the open market from Chicago.

As an aside, the discovery of two team options on the final two years of the contract continue to demonstrate that the Broncos, like the Ravens and Patriots, are fully on board with manipulating the compensatory pick system to their advantage, so that they can void Marshall’s contract instead of outright cutting him.  Previously, they successfully negotiated similar clauses with Demaryius Thomas and Derek Wolfe.

While the circumstances of Marshall’s deal can’t be precisely compared to that of Miller, I can see an olive branch to be found in those negotiations.  Marshall is practically uncuttable in the first two years, and while he could be cut in the third year it would not be a big cap gain for the Broncos to do so.  John Elway has proven he’ll treat his own well when they earn it, but he’s also not going to roll over to do so.