When news broke that the Denver Broncos had traded left tackle Ryan Clady to the New York Jets on Saturday, the widespread perception was that it might have a direct impact on a potential Colin Kaepernick trade to Denver.
This made too much sense. After all, the Broncos just rid themselves of Clady’s $9.5 million cap hit for next season.
With money being the only thing holding up a Kaepernick deal from the San Francisco 49ers, common logic suggested the Broncos might bite the bullet and acquire the enigmatic quarterback without a restructured contract.
Not so fast, my friends:
Broncos beat writer Mike Klis reported late Saturday night on local NBC affiliate website that the Clady deal has no impact on Denver’s pursuit of Kaepernick:
“Cap room, or lack thereof, had nothing to do with the Broncos offering Kaepernick a reduced 2016 salary to $7 million. According to a source, the Broncos offered Kaepernick a $7 million salary because that’s the going rate for elite backup quarterbacks,” the report read. “The Broncos are only offering Kaepernick a chance to compete with Mark Sanchez for their starting quarterback position.”
That’s the primary issue here. Denver values Kaepernick at a different clip than the quarterback values himself. The team could have $30 million in cap room and still wouldn’t bring on the signal caller at his current 2016 cap hit of $15.9 million.
If the team does indeed value him as a backup or someone that will compete with Mark Sanchez for the starting job, it’s smart not to meet the quarterback’s asking price.
Klis went on to indicate that a deal now looks unlikely.
With all that said, things can easily change between now and the draft later this month. The closer Denver comes to realizing that Sanchez is its only quarterback currently on the roster with any in-game experience, the more likely it is going to give in here.
Denver is said to be offering Kaepernick $7 million per season on a new two-year deal. Meanwhile, the quarterback is set to earn $13.2 million per under his current contract. That’s a mighty big split right there.