Champagne is best served cold. After giving Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas a cool $70 million deal, franchise executive John Elway raised a toast spiked with an ultimatum.
“The expectations,” Elway said Thursday, “are going to be increased now.”
Little has changed from when Elway was quarterback of the Super Bowl champs in Denver. When you play for Elway and he invests trust, the message is clear: Don’t drop the ball.
Without question, Thomas is a Pro Bowl talent, a beloved teammate and all-around righteous dude. But he’s a follower, not a leader. That has to change.
It’s not necessary to peruse the fine print of the deal Thomas accepted only minutes before the deadline clock struck trouble Wednesday to understand he will now be expected to do more than catch touchdown passes from quarterback Peyton Manning.
His new mission, which Thomas has no choice but to accept, is to lead the Broncos into the great unknown of the post-Manning era and keep Denver relevant in the Super Bowl conversation through decade’s end.
In the NFL, nothing is free. A big expenditure here costs a teammate his job down the line. Thomas is a statistical monster. He and Manning are the Jedi masters of Star Wars numbers. But the pressure on D.T. and other high-priced Broncos in the upcoming season will be to produce playoff victories. Or else.
The obvious significance of avoiding the hassle of Thomas playing the 2015 season on the franchise tag is happy news for everybody in Denver except linebacker Von Miller. For him, this is a bummer deal. Tag, you’re it.
Although Miller is due to be a free agent after the season, Denver now can slap its most talented defensive player with the franchise tag, which is the NFL’s scariest weapon this side of a Beast Mode stiff arm from Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch.
Teammates are understandably ecstatic Thomas has saddled up for the long haul. Kayvon Webster shouted to the Twitterverse: “D.T. back! Broncos up!” But here’s the catch. In the wake of a budget-stretching deal for Thomas, big-ticket players who fail to earn their keep figure to be sent promptly to the salary-cap chopping block in 2016.
With injured offensive tackle Ryan Clady, punter Britton Colquitt, pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware, cornerback Aqib Talib and Manning on the books for salaries worth in excess of $38 million in ’16, somebody’s got to go at the end of this season, and do not be surprised if more than one of these decorated veterans is not collecting a paycheck from the Broncos a year from now.
His win-from-now-on mantra forces Elway to make cold, calculated roster decisions, as he succinctly explained: “It’s impossible to hold on to everybody in the salary cap era.”
Even with a talent as big as Thomas, who has caught 41 touchdown passes during five NFL seasons and made the bubble screen his personal mission to prove why yards after the catch are so valuable, Elway stubbornly refused to break the bank to meet D.T’s stubborn, pie-in-the-sky dream of becoming the league’s top-paid receiver.
So, on behalf of everyone in apountry, allow me to humbly say: Thank you, Dez Bryant.
Yes, I realize an unwritten law in Colorado strictly prohibits acknowledgment anything good has come out of Texas, much less Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his big-hat, no-cattle ego.
But only minutes after Bryant reached an agreement on a five-year, $70 million deal with the Cowboys, the Broncos and Thomas found common ground on a five-year, $70 million deal of their own.
Hmm, isn’t life full of happy coincidences?
Collusion allegations from the punchless NFLPA aside, Elway was never, ever going to sign Thomas for one penny more than Dallas gave Bryant. From the start of negotiations, it seemed as if D.T. was waiting for Bryant to tell him how to proceed.
Earlier in the year, Denver pushed tight end Julius Thomas and defensive tackle Terrance Knighton out the door as free agents.
Drop the ball for Elway, refuse to play hurt or fail to make weight, and the end game is the same. Elway says buh-bye.
In the NFL, the color of love is green.
To keep Thomas in orange, the Broncos double-covered their top receiver in green.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or
