This one time, John Elway was delighted to concede.
No longer could the Broncos squeeze Chris Harris into a payroll slot of a No. 2-type cornerback. Week after week, Pro Football Focus kept grading him out as the best cornerback in the league. How could Elway, the Broncos’ general manager, pay Harris like a No. 2 corner on his own team?
And so Elway stepped into midseason contract negotiations and sweetened his offer to Harris.
With Aqib Talib already receiving top-corner checks, the contract extension reached with Harris last month moved the Broncos alongside the Green Bay Packers as the only two NFL teams who had not one, but two cornerbacks among the top 15 highest paid players at their position.
No other team had a second cornerback ranked among the top 23 in average annual salary.
“A lot of the teams that don’t do that, they’re not in the tournament right now,” Talib said. “Those two teams you just brought up, they’re in the tournament. They got top two seeds, they got bye weeks. It looks pretty successful doing it that way.”
The Packers, with their cornerback tandem of Sam Shields (No. 8 in average annual salary) and Tramon Williams (No. 14) host the Dallas Cowboys in a second-round NFC playoff game Sunday night at Lambeau Field. Earlier in the day, the Broncos with Talib (No. 9 in pay) and Harris (No. 12) will be tested by Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck in their second-round home divisional playoff game.
“You don’t always want to pay two guys like that, but in Chris’ case, I’m OK with that. He’s earned it,” Elway said.
Indeed, soon after Harris’ five-year, $42.5 million contract extension was announced Dec. 12, former longtime NFL executive Joe Banner opined the Broncos got a bargain.
“The way the league is now, if you don’t have 4,000 yards passing it’s a bad year,” Elway said. “Where before 3,000 yards was a good year. It’s such a passing league now that on defense, there’s a premium paid to pass rushers and guys who can cover. When you have two good corners like we do, you’re going to want to pay them and keep them. With the salary cap growing like it is, I think you’re going to see that trend continue.”
If money talks, the Broncos’ cornerback tandem of Talib and Harris are among the best in the league. Never mind their average salaries. In the all important financial category of guaranteed dollars, Talib ($25.5 million) and Harris ($24 million) rank third and fifth among NFL corners.
In return for all that loot, though, Harris and Talib have provided value. The Harris-Talib pairing is not among the league’s best. According to Pro Football Focus, it is easily the best.
Add in rookie nickelback Bradley Roby, who has met expectations and then some of a first-round draft pick, and the Broncos by almost any measure have the league’s best set of corners.
OK, timeout. With the Broncos about to begin their postseason against the talented Luck, some caution is needed. Cornerback play is like stock-heavy mutual funds: Past results do not guarantee future returns. The now-retired Champ Bailey played like a Pro Bowler through the 2012 regular season. That didn’t help him against Baltimore’s Torrey Smith in a second-round playoff game.
“You’ve got to prove it every week at that position,” said Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. “And Chris and Aqib understand that. Every day you have to compete and they have a healthy respect of that. They dial it in each day.”
Mike Klis: mklis@denverpost.com or
