The Denver Broncos have been trying to negotiate a new deal with wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, but as of now, the talks seem to be on hold, which means someone is trying to force someone to accept demands.
Sanders has one more season left on his deal with the Broncos, signing a three-year, $15 million deal in 2014. He has a cap hit of $6.6 million in 2016, including a base salary of $6.6 million. His production over the last two years (most of it with Peyton Manning): 177 receptions, 2539 yards, 15 touchdowns, one Pro Bowl. It’s safe to say he’s going to get a raise, and contracts like the ones Doug Baldwin of the Seattle Seahawks ($46 million, four years), Keenan Allen of the San Diego Chargers ($45 million, four years) and Allen Hurns of the Jacksonville Jaguars ($40.05 million, four years) got are what Sanders is aiming for. All of them got over $20 million in guaranteed money too.
Sanders also did pretty well in the postseason. He didn’t have any touchdown catches through the three games, but racked up 16 receptions and 230 yards, being part of the Broncos Super Bowl win against the Carolina Panthers. He’s 29, with six seasons in the NFL (four with the Steelers) on his CV. Sanders is older than the trio we mentioned, but has out produced them over the last two seasons. In any case, the talks between the sides have been going on since early June, but for now, there’s a halt.
John Elway, who has had a rough offseason, has said that ideally they’d wrap up their talk with Sanders by mid July. The Broncos are more focused at the moment to get a deal done with Von Miller, who is on the franchise tender, and there’s a July 15 deadline to beat, or they can no longer negotiate a long term deal with the star linebacker until the end of the season. Sanders, who hasn’t made any threats of holding out or something like that, is probably going to wait before things get resolved.
Sanders was a third round pick (82nd overall) by the Steelers in 2010, following a college career at SMU. He never reached 800 receiving yards in Pittsburgh, but was never a 1st option for Ben Roethlisberger either.