Julius Thomas to Jacksonville

[ducky]

This makes me wonder if you watched any Broncos games at all this year. First off the Broncos have plenty of Cap Space to sign just about anybody they want. Heck the Patriots are over the cap and just signed McCourty to just about $10 million a year so Cap Space wise they are fine. There are plenty of reasons they are not signing Julius Thomas. Heck look at the two coaches that were with the Broncos this past year in Del Rio with the Raiders now and Fox with the Bears. Neither of them even put up an offer. That should be telling of the player that he is. Throw in the Broncos most likely have about $30 million coming off the books for next year with Manning and Ware most likely gone so again contracts were not the problem the Broncos just know he isn't worth what he is getting.

Neither of the old coaches looked into Thomas because both guys went to spots that have TE's already entrenched. Bennett is a top 5 TE in the league the last couple of years and Rivera was one of the lone few bright spots for Oakland.

Could the Broncos have fit him under the cap? Sure. Just not at the cost that the Broncos were willing to pay. If they did, he would still be a Bronco. I think that much is clear.

As for the targets again hard to think you actually watched any Broncos games this year if you are going to that stat to prove you point. Julius before he sprained his ankle was getting plenty of targets. Heck he was lapping the NFL in touchdowns pretty much through the first half of the season. After his injury he sat out quite a few games even when the trainers deemed him healthy enough to play. He then when he did play was cautious with it as it has been confirmed he pretty much told the team that he did not want to risk injury therefore costing him millions of dollars. He quit on the team to save himself for his next contract. Hard to want to offer that kind of player big money.

He wasn't getting targeted like a top TE gets targeted even before the injury. He was averaging 5.7 targets per game before the injury. That is low for a good TE in this league....it is EXTRMELY low for a TE who was producing like he was producing in the first half of the season. The reason I went down as far as I did on that list is because he would have finished under Fleener in targets if he would have continued on that pace.

I don't think the problem is me not seeing the broncos (hell they were on national TV almost every game last year)....it is you not seeing the rest of the league and realizing how much TE's are now targeted each game. For an unquestioned top TE talent in the league, Thomas was not getting targeted as much as other TE's of his caliber. That will be fixed in Jacksonville. He's pretty much a lock to get 110-120 balls on average thrown at him (if he stays healthy). In Denver it is highly unlikely he ever would have broke 100 in a season.

 

[hockey878]

He's getting 9 mil from the jags.

he could've gotten 8 mil from the broncos.

have fun with that JT

 

[cdumler7]

Neither of the old coaches looked into Thomas because both guys went to spots that have TE's already entrenched. Bennett is a top 5 TE in the league the last couple of years and Rivera was one of the lone few bright spots for Oakland.

Could the Broncos have fit him under the cap? Sure. Just not at the cost that the Broncos were willing to pay. If they did, he would still be a Bronco. I think that much is clear.




He wasn't getting targeted like a top TE gets targeted even before the injury. He was averaging 5.7 targets per game before the injury. That is low for a good TE in this league....it is EXTRMELY low for a TE who was producing like he was producing in the first half of the season. The reason I went down as far as I did on that list is because he would have finished under Fleener in targets if he would have continued on that pace.

I don't think the problem is me not seeing the broncos (hell they were on national TV almost every game last year)....it is you not seeing the rest of the league and realizing how much TE's are now targeted each game. For an unquestioned top TE talent in the league, Thomas was not getting targeted as much as other TE's of his caliber. That will be fixed in Jacksonville. He's pretty much a lock to get 110-120 balls on average thrown at him (if he stays healthy). In Denver it is highly unlikely he ever would have broke 100 in a season.

Wow so much wrong here. First off both teams already have TE's entrenched? Who have you been watching play football? Bennett has had one year where he looked like a top-5 TE and that was this past year. One good year does not make a good TE. Throw in the Bears are being linked to different TE's that they are trying to sign right now. Heck the coaches there are trying to sign the other Bronco TE that was JT's back up in Virgil Green to a big contract. Actually half the teams in the league called his agent wanting to know what it would take to sign him where Julius only had 1 team call.

Now as for the Raiders Rivera graded out as one of the worst TE's in the entire league. Have you not watched the NFL Rumors here this past week in the Raiders have been linked to every big name TE on the market except for Julius Thomas.

And as for the Broncos not making him an offer. If they thought he was a huge part of their future then they would have signed him. The Broncos though like to spend the big bucks on players that have been All-Pro's in this league not just pro bowlers. Believe me I actually liked Julius being on the team and they will miss him around the Red Zone as he was great at catching Touchdowns but the price he wanted with all the red flags he has (just do some research on this and you will see why so many in Denver couldn't wait to get this guy out of town) is just way too steep. You talk about the Jaguars being possibly more of a playoff team than the Broncos. We shall see but spending big money on a player that has yet to actually make it through a season healthy, isn't all that big of a football fan to begin with, and is not that great of a locker room presence for a team is a quick way to sink the ship.

 

[Demonjoe93]

I'm happy with the signing. Now if we could also get Murray to come down here...

 

[boltfan72]

I'll never blame a guy for having money as his priority. These guys are always one play away from the end of their careers. You can't fault Thomas for looking for a big payday. After all he likely will never put up numbers like he did with Manning, so he may not get this opportunity again. Plus terrible teams like Jax are only one or two great drafts away from being a contender. That's the great thing about the NFL.