Demaryius Thomas and the Broncos agreed on a only minutes before the NFL’s deadline Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after, Broncos general manager John Elway spoke local media via conference call about how the deal came to fruition and his expectations for the future with Thomas on board. Below is the full transcript of the call:
On how a player’s character is factored into long-term deals:
“You look at the player as a whole, you look at the person as a whole. Whatever percentage you put to that is different in every case. But that’s definitely a part of the decision-making process because when you’re paying this kind of money to a player, you hope you’re giving it to the right player on the field but as well as off the field.”
On when negotiations resumed with Thomas:
“It really started this morning. We had met with Todd France (Thomas’ agent) back in the first of June and we both got our offers on the table. At that point in time, there wasn’t any movement until this morning. Once again, things got going this morning. That’s really when we had get a deal done.”
On Thomas missing organized team activities:
“There’s a business side to this and everybody thinks about it differently. So I think we’ll just have to be careful with D.T. when he comes into training camp and really manage him and get him up to speed with what we’re doing mentally, but also physically because he didn’t have the OTAs or the mini camps with us. So we’re going to have to monitor that very closely to make sure that we get him up to speed and don’t take any unnecessary risks with him. It’s part of the business, but we’re thrilled that we were able to get the deal done with him and that D.T. is going to be a Bronco for another five years. We have high expectations and I think he’s going to be a big part of the success we have.”
On the signing affecting the salary cap in the future:
“We prepare for all those (scenarios). We look at what the value is to the Broncos, what we can afford, how that fits into the structure and how that fits into our football team. All of those things are going into consideration when we determine what we’re going to pay somebody. We’re well aware of the people that we have coming up. We have a lot of good football players coming up. But with Demaryius — he’s obviously a big part of that and he’s the first part of trying to keep this football team together. I think it was a very fair deal for both sides.”
On how played into talks:
“We had our numbers set up and picked out and figured out what we believed was the correct value for us — for the Broncos as well as Demaryius. It just took a while to get to that point. Any time you have two special football players at the same position that are going into a franchise year, there is always caution that no one jumps the gun. And I think that’s why it went as long as it went, to be able to make sure that everybody — especially from the agent side — were where they needed to be.”
On his confidence in Thomas’ future production:
“You look at the production D.T. has had in the last three years and I don’t think there’s any question that D.T. is one of the top receivers in the league, and he’s being compensated that way now. It’s very well-deserved on D.T.’s part, so we have high expectations. We think he’s coming right into his prime. We don’t anticipate him backing up at all. The expectations are going to be increased now. He’s got all the skills and, plus, the type of the person that he is — he’s the type of player we want on the Denver Broncos. We have a tremendous amount of confidence in D.T., and it’s why we felt comfortable paying him this kind of money.”
On if Von Miller’s expiring contract affected talks:
“We’re always planning for the future. Everyone talks about us winning now. My point is, we want to win from now on. So when we go through our budget meetings year in and year out, that’s what we look at. We have a three-year plan and a four-year plan and we try to look into the future and see where we are so we can budget everybody in there to where we can keep all our great football players. That’s what we want to do. We want to draft well and keep our own and fill in with free agency where we can. D.T. was the first step. We’ll have a plan for Von for next year, as well as other players. We have several other really good football players that are also coming into their last year, and we’ll try to hold onto as many as we can. Obviously, it’s impossible to hold onto everybody in the salary cap era, but we’re going to do the best we can to keep them all.”
On the movement of negotiations Wednesday morning:
“”There is always movement, but I think until you get any kind of deadline, it’s hard to get anything going. They (Thomas’ camp) were where they were and we were where we were and we were able to come together. (Broncos director of football administration) Mike Sullivan on our side as well as Todd France, Demaryius’ representative — they did a tremendous job in finding the common ground. We wanted to get a deal done. They knew that. Demaryius wanted to stay in Denver, which we wanted him to want to stay in Denver. And so I think that eventually we were going to get a deal done. It was just a matter of trying to get to those terms, where we could both live with those terms, and we were able to do that.”
On if he’s talked to Peyton Manning since Thomas’ signing:
“I have not talked to Peyton. I know Demaryius was a guy who was obviously a target for us this year and we were able to get that done. But if you look at what he’s done the past three years and really what he’s done since he’s been in Denver, he’s been a tremendous player for us, an explosive player with big-play potential. So as a quarterback, when you look outside and you got a guy who’s 6-3, 225 pounds and can run and anytime you get the ball in his hands has the ability to score, not only as a quarterback but as an offense, it makes you that much more explosive.”
On Thomas’ development over the years:
“I think he’s continuing to get better and better. He’s a hard-worker, he studies, he’s smart, he’s a student of the game. Early in his career he got bit by the injury bug and has been able to fight through that and really had three solid years where he stayed healthy. That’s just the maturation process. That’s what we’ve seen the last three years in Demaryius and I anticipate us seeing that the next five and him continuing to be the big-play guy and our No. 1 receiver.”
