Sign enough free agents and eventually they get in the way.
All those veteran players Broncos general manager John Elway signed in three previous years? They came at the expense of their kids, never mind their budget.
Elway’s past three free-agent classes were lauded. They produced the likes of Peyton Manning, Louis Vasquez, Wes Welker, Emmanuel Sanders, Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware and T.J. Ward.
Elway’s past three draft classes, meanwhile, have been more critically reviewed. But here was the problem: All those free-agent stars the Broncos signed made it difficult for the kids to get on the field.
Not that anyone should complain about this method. The Broncos went 13-3, 13-3 and 12-4 the past three seasons. It’s just that as Elway resets his roster for 2015, he believes it is time to make room for his young players.
This is one reason the Broncos’ 2015 free-agent class will likely top out with , a productive if hardly flashy tight end who signed a three-year contract with the Broncos on Wednesday that will pay him $4.75 million ($3 million in signing bonus) this season.
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“When we first started this, especially last year, we did a lot in free agency because we had so many spots to fill,” Elway said. “But now we feel we’ve had some successful drafts, we have young players who are up and coming, guys we think are going to be good football players who we don’t know about yet. They’re going to have to apply some pressure, step up and step in.
“Could we have gone out and got some immediate help? Yeah, but that’s why we draft.”
There was concern Tuesday that while the NFL offseason opened with an unprecedented and spectacular frenzy of trades and record-setting free-agent signings, the Broncos pretty much stayed clear of the madness.
Meanwhile, their own by joining the Jacksonville Jaguars with a five-year, $46 million contract and Orlando Franklin is now the league’s fifth-highest paid guard, thanks to his with the rival San Diego Chargers.
Make no mistake, all those past free-agent signings eventually crimped the Broncos’ bottom line. All that money thrown at Manning, Ware and the guys is one reason the Broncos had to say goodbye to so many from their terrific 2011 draft class.
The Broncos have roughly .
“I’m happy for Julius, I’m happy for Orlando,” Elway said. “I’m not saying we didn’t value them like their new teams did. But they needed to fit in our budget. At some point you have to move on and start relying on young guys.”
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Elway exuded a relaxed demeanor Wednesday. He willingly watched from the side as coach Gary Kubiak introduced Daniels to the press.
Afterward, Elway stood against a hallway wall, wearing a business-casual red sweater and slacks while addressing a group of local reporters for nearly 14 minutes.
Manning came up. The quarterback’s 2015 salary was initially supposed to be $19 million. The team .
“Peyton was good through the whole thing,” Elway said. “It’s just not an easy thing to do. That’s the business side of it that we have to deal with. We got it figured out, everything’s fine. I talked to Peyton and he’s ready to go.”
Manning is less than two weeks away from his 39th birthday, an age that hovers over the team’s long-range plans. The quarterback considered retiring this year. He has one more year, at $19 million, left on his contract after this season.
Does Elway have two plans for 2016 — one with Manning, one without?
“No, it’s put the best football team on the field that we can now,” Elway said. “While also looking into the future … in my position I’m always trying to look two or three years down the line, but whether Peyton is there or not that’s how we always have to go.”
