Broncos Are Big Winners in Demaryius Thomas Contract Extension

The news was fraught with skepticism because of the surrounding claims of potential collusion from the NFL Players Association, but the Denver Broncos were never in any real danger of losing a contract extension with highly respected wideout Demaryius Thomas.

Why? One simple reason: They had so much room to give in these discussions that even by capitulating, they still won. 

Adam Schefter, ESPN's national reporter with Denver roots, was naturally the first person to break the news Wednesday of the agreement between Denver and Thomas. Per Schefter, Thomas has the chance to earn $70 million over the next five seasons, and the guaranteed money in the deal is $43.5 million:

Here's the thing: With the long-term extension Thomas signed, there are two factors that immediately make the Broncos winners in this deal.

First, as a player on the franchise tag, Thomas had no real recourse. He could have skipped a few games before signing his tender and accumulating enough action to count for a year of service, but barring the kind of injury that would endanger his future earnings, the idea of him ever reaching free agency is extremely far-fetched. 

As we've seen time and again, players without the extra leverage of having the opportunity to hit free agency get worked. Nobody would claim that Chiefs wideout Jeremy Maclin is in Thomas' league as a receiver, but if you look at the contract he got as a free agent, it's not far off the totals that Thomas reeled in.

Thomas is also basically on par with Mike Wallace, who was fortunate enough to find himself in a two-man bidding war spurred on by Jeff Ireland—even though that contract was signed two years ago.

Player	Signing Team	Year	Terms	Guaranteed
Mike Wallace	MIA	2012	5 years, $65 million	$30 million
Demaryius Thomas	DEN	2014	5 years, $70 million	$43.5 million
Dez Bryant	DAL	2014	5 years, $70 million	$45 million
Jeremy Maclin	KC	2014	5 years, $55 million	$22 million

The other factor here? The salary cap will likely continue to escalate. Simply put, this is an area where the new TV money coming into the game is going to have to go to some players. And, as most of the money in the game goes to star contracts, the contracts signed now will look pretty fair in a couple of years.

Most cap observers believe it's only a matter of "how long?" before the cap moves to $160 or even $170 million. By then, contracts with a base value of $15 million for star players will be looked at as bargains.

There's nothing in Thomas' stat line that tells us he won't stand the test of time. He's probably not the best receiver in the NFL, but he's absolutely got a case to be in the top five. And in getting paid like it today, he supersedes the "what if?" scenarios that can happen pretty easily to football players. Everyone is a snap away from becoming obsolete and losing that extra 2-3 percent that makes them who they are. 

And as long as Thomas doesn't get hurt, this deal was an easy decision for the Broncos. Nobody really knows how Denver will approach the near future with Peyton Manning's career winding down, but it was important they at least had a foundation piece in place for their offense going forward. Thomas is that piece. Now, they can break in a new quarterback around him rather than forcing that new quarterback to play in a tough scenario.

But Thomas' signing was predestined back in 1993, when the franchise tag was first devised and thrown on an unsuspecting NFLPA by the owners. It's hard to get a bad long-term deal when you have all the leverage in a negotiation. That's what the Broncos had here, and that's why they handily mopped up with Thomas' deal. 

And that's why the exact same situation is set up for Von Miller next season. Because Denver knows that the franchise tag is undefeated at keeping big contracts in control.

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.