Broncos place tender on Marshall, Dumervil
The team makes the first move in the chess match that is the offseason.
- Image via Wikipedia
The Broncos made an expected move today, placing tenders on several big name players, including Brandon Marshall, Elvis Dumervil, Kyle Orton, Chris Kuper and Tony Scheffler. As restricted free-agents, the tender indicates what a team must surrender if they are able to sign the player away. The most telling is the tender on Marshall – it’s a first-round tender only. The process works like this – any restricted free agent can be signed to an offer sheet – an offer that the Broncos have an opportunity to match. If they match the offer, they are committed to signing the player to that deal. If they choose not to match it, they become the property of the offering team, who must surrender the tender price to the Broncos. In Marshall’s case, rather than using the maximum first and third round tender (draft picks the offering team must give up), the Broncos set the tender as first round only, presumably as a message to the league that Marshall is here and available for the taking. Just offer him more money than Denver thinks he’s worth, throw down a first round pick, and he’s yours. This is not a prohibitive price for one of the top receivers in the league. The message is that the Broncos are not dead set on keeping Brandon around.
The tender on Dumervil is quite a bit more restrictive, and it would seem the Broncos would be more aggressive in matching offers that might come in for the pass rusher that thrived under the new 3-4 system.
The tenders on Orton and Kuper are first-round tenders only, but no one is expecting teams to make a big play for either of those players at that price. The big issue here is the collapse of the collective bargaining agreement. Under the old system, restricted free agents often used their RFA status to leverage their way into a new multi-year deal – but with the future uncertain, teams aren’t about to go out and break the bank.
The free agent signing period officially begins midnight Friday, so this weekend is the earliest you’ll see any activity on the Broncos roster.
I would absolutely take a 1st rounder for Marshall in this stacked draft… and a 1st rounder for Orton would just be ridiculous. Only the Lions are that dumb…