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Gut Reaction: CJ Anderson Is Still A Bronco

I wrote a few days ago that the Broncos’ original-round tender to CJ Anderson might have been a sign that they weren’t entirely sure if they wanted to keep him for the long term or not, and going higher might have signaled they wanted to extend him when they hadn’t made up their mind.

After they decided to match the offer the Miami Dolphins gave Anderson, I will say I was wrong about that. Instead, it does appear the original RFA tender decision came, in part, because John Elway underestimated the market for running backs.

With that said, there might have been another reason why the Broncos tendered Anderson at a low level: Because they were looking at getting every penny they could toward paying for a starting quarterback.
Continue reading Gut Reaction: CJ Anderson Is Still A Bronco

Broncos Will Match CJ Anderson’s Offer Sheet

John Elway has confirmed the news.

UPDATE, 2:45 PM MT: Mike Klis has now clarified the details of Anderson’s new contract.  In a tabular form, it should look like this:

Base Salary (Guaranteed) Prorated Bonus Workout Bonus Cap Number Dead Money (pre-June 1 cut) Cap Savings (pre-June 1 cut)
$675,000 $1,312,500 $100,000 $2,087,500 $7,625,000 ($5,537,500)
$2,900,000
$1,700,000		 $1,312,500 $100,000 $4,312,500 $5,637,500 ($1,325,000)
$4,500,000 $1,312,500 $0 $5,812,500 $2,625,000 $3,187,500
$4,500,000 $1,312,500 $0 $5,812,500 $1,312,500 $4,500,000

 

Broncos Alter DeMarcus Ware’s Contract

I am using “alter” in my title here (previously “rework” if you look at the URL and tweet), because “restructure” is often poorly used by the media.  “Restructuring” should only be used to refer to the act of converting non-prorated salary into a signing bonus.  In Ware’s case, his contract cannot be restructured unless it was extended, as he only had one year left on his deal.  In order to save salary cap space, Ware either had to agree to an extension (either real, or fake by using void years), or he had to take a pay cut.  We will soon see what is the full truth.

UPDATE, 2:20 PM MT: It is indeed a pay cut (of $3.5 million) that can be earned back from incentives.  Bob posted some numbers by Albert Breer’s that gave an early glimpse at Ware’s pay cut.

UPDATE 2, 3:20 PM MT: Mike Florio is now reporting that Ware has $4 million fully guaranteed, not $2 million as initially speculated. Ware’s 2016 contract year should now look like this:

Base Salary
(Guaranteed)		 Prorated Bonus Roster Bonus* Cap Number Dead Money (if cut)* Cap Savings (if cut)*
$4,000,000
($2,000,000)		 $3,666,668 $500,000 $8,166,668 $5,666,668 $2,500,000

*It is unclear when Ware’s roster bonus is precisely due.

One interesting aspect is that the Broncos only guaranteed $2 million of Ware’s salary in exchange for the $3.5 million pay cut.  Hypothetically, should the Broncos decide before the regular season that Ware isn’t worth an additional $4-4.5 million (depending on the timing of the roster bonus being due), Ware could still be cut before then.  I see that as highly unlikely, but the option is there.

I’ve struck out the paragraph above because if Ware does indeed have an addition $2 million in guaranteed base salary, $5.66 million in dead money is not quite as appealing in exchange for only $2.5 million in cap savings.  As Florio speculated, this likely provides some security to Ware against being cut prior to the regular season.

Should Ware earn any of his incentives, they should be charged as a negative adjustment to Denver’s 2017 salary cap, as Peyton Manning’s $4 million Super Bowl bonus was charged in 2016.

Reviewing Free Agent Contracts

As we await word to see what other moves the Denver Broncos will make as the second wave of free agency is about to begin, I wanted to review some of the contracts that have been handed out to players so far.

I’ll direct you to Over the Cap’s list of free agents, which includes links to those players who were free agents that have signed deals and have their contract details reported. I wanted to look at each deal to see how good they really are from cap standpoints, cash standpoints and whether the player’s talent level justifies the fully guaranteed money that will be paid out.

I didn’t get to every contract, but started off with the ones that have the highest average salaries per year. If I get a chance, I’ll go over other contracts in a later post.
Continue reading Reviewing Free Agent Contracts