The initial 53-man roster is set. The salary cap is pretty-well dialed in for this season. But, when the Broncos made Quinn Meinerz the 4th highest paid guard in football, the obvious question was, who gets paid next. The answer is simple, Cornerback Pat Surtain II. But, the timing isn’t so simple. There’s often talk of bricks when building an organization, and you can’t have enough. We know Head Coach Sean Payton and General Manager George Paton think of Meinerz as a true building block, or “brick” for the franchise. Payton said as much, “I thought he had a really good year,” Payton said in June. “I remember when he came out (of college) and when a player [went] to the AFC, maybe you lose track a little bit. I thought he played exceptionally well. Certainly he’s a powerful, sticky run blocker. He does a lot of things extremely well. I think he loves it. He loves the process, which is half the battle. So, I love that he’s our right guard.”
So, Denver rewarded “The Belly” with a new 4-year $80 Million Deal, $24 Million coming his way in a year won, and $45 Million fully guaranteed. Because Meinerz was a 3rd round pick, there was more urgency to get his deal done, before he became eligible for free agency after the season.
Surtain was the team’s first round pick in 2021, two rounds ahead of Meinerz. But, the team has more flexibility, because with 1st round picks teams can pick up a 5th year option, and extend both the negotiating window, as well as the years of team control of a player. Inexplicably, the NFL (via a collectively bargained agreement with the players) forces teams to designate if they’re going to pick up a 5th year option in May prior to a player’s 4th season. It was a no-brainer for the Broncos to exercise that option on Surtain. And, with the No. 9 pick from 3 years ago, living up to his billing, if not exceeding it, a new deal is certainly going to happen, and Paton has done nothing but indicate “PS2” will be a Broncos for a long-long time. “Obviously we value Pat, and we’ll see where that goes,” Paton said in February at the NFL Scouting Combine. “We’ll work on that. I would say it’s pretty close. That’s an easy one. That’s one of the easier decisions we’ll make.”
In his 3 seasons, Surtain has been named a Pro Bowl starter twice and All-Pro twice. When looking at the top cornerback salaries, the Broncos may catch a bit of a “break” so-to-speak. No cornerbacks, received new deals this past off-season. Atlanta’s A.J. Terrell signed an extension last week, but that as well as the other deals in recent years, reset the market. In 2022, the Packers re-signed Jaire Alexander to a 4-year, $84 Million Deal, and the Browns inked former 1st rounder Denzel Ward to a 5-year $100 Million deal to stay in Cleveland. Alexander’s $21 Million a season, sets the standard, and Ward is just behind Alexander at $20 Million a season. 5 other corners, Marshon Lattimore, Marlon Humphrey, Trevon Diggs and L’Jarius Sneed and Jaylon Johnson make between $19 and and $19.5 Million.
We did see CeeDee Lamb, fresh off a 135 catch season, ink the 2nd biggest deal for a non-quarterback ever, agreeing this week to a 4-year $136 Million extension. That’s behind only fellow wideout, Justin Jefferson of the Vikings. But the Broncos don’t currently have a pass catcher who will exist in that same stratosphere.
What they do have is the best cornerback in football. Just ask the aforementioned Jefferson, as well as fellow top wideouts Davante Adams and Amon-Ra St. Brown, who all agree Surtain is a cut above the rest of the cover cornerbacks in the NFL. They said so on the Netflix series, “Receiver” released in July.
Surtain will not only exceed all of those numbers, but he will also become the highest paid cornerback in the history of football. But, in a year where Denver is eating more than $50 Million of cap space with dead money, because of the release of Russell Wilson, they may not be in a hurry to get Surtain a new deal anytime soon. There is an argument to be made that paying Surtain sooner than later could give them more salary cap flexibility. But timing does matter. If a new deal gets done this year, the bulk of the money needs to hit next year and beyond. The good news for the Broncos, by eating such a big chunk of dead money this year, they’ll have significant cap space in 2025 and beyond.
Thus, we know a new deal for Surtain is coming, just don’t be surprised if it’s not until the end of the season, or perhaps next off-season.
