The Broncos and linebacker Von Miller took a sometimes twisty road to the long-term contract they agreed to last week, including a period in June when reports had the team changing focus from negotiating with Miller to talking to other players about extensions.
Those players were linebacker Brandon Marshall and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. Marshall reached a four-year deal with the team, but talks with Sanders were put on hold earlier this month with the Miller deadline looming. With Miller and Marshall now signed, that would seem to leave Sanders as the next man up for contract talks with John Elway.
Sanders has made it known that he wants to remain in Denver and said last month he was hopeful that a deal would get done. Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post reports that the team has been “reluctant” to offer Sanders $10 million a year, although recent deals for Allen Hurns, Doug Baldwin and Keenan Allen have all cleared that number.
Sanders is older than those players, but is coming off two productive seasons for Denver and would likely draw strong interest around the league if he were to hit the open market in 2017. That’s a long way off, which leaves plenty of time for the two sides to strike a deal.
