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Report: Broncos expected to use franchise tag on Demaryius Thomas

The Broncos are expected to place the franchise tag on wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on Monday.

By Scotty Payne
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

According to Mike Klis of the Denver Post, the Denver Broncos are expected to place the franchise tag on wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on Monday. Applying the franchise tag to Thomas will cost roughly $13 million dollars.

Klis states that the Broncos will place the "non-exclusive tag" on Thomas. The Broncos could have used the "exclusive" tag that would have prohibited the player from negotiated with other teams.

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The "non-exclusive tag" means that it is possible for other teams to negotiate with Thomas, although the Broncos would have the right to match any offer. If the Broncos were to decide against matching an offer, the team signing away Thomas would have to compensate Denver with two first-round draft picks.

It has been rumored that the New York Jets will pursue Thomas this offseason and, former teammate Eric Decker has been trying to recruit Thomas to the Jets. It will be interesting to see if the Jets or any other teams will go after Thomas, and if the Broncos are willing to match their offer or take the two first-round picks.

Also, Klis says so not be surprised if Thomas declines to sign his franchise tag tender until the July 15th deadline. This would allow Thomas to skip out on the Broncos offseason program without penalty.

Applying the franchise tag to Thomas allows the Broncos and his agent more time to work out a long-term contract that would keep him a member of the Denver Broncos for awhile.

Thomas will be the third Denver Broncos player to receive the non-exclusive franchise tag in four years. In the two previous cases, the Broncos were able to reach multiyear contract agreements with kicker Matt Prater and left tackle Ryan Clady before the start of training camp.

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