Broncos Shopping SS TJ Ward - CUT Signs w TB

[Broncofan]

While no one in the organization wants to outright say it - the need to keep Jamal Carter on the 53-man roster fueled Ward's departure.   Otherwise Ward would have simply walked after this year in FA.  

Simmons & Parks' play will determine if this was the right 2017 play but Carter will determine if this was the right play long term.  Given our ability to ID secondary stars I'm very optimistic.  Likely we don't really start to see until 2018 as I'd expect Carter to simply be a ST contributor this year barring injury.  

[broncos_fan _from _uk]

32 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

While no one in the organization wants to outright say it - the need to keep Jamal Carter on the 53-man roster fueled Ward's departure.   Otherwise Ward would have simply walked after this year in FA.  

Simmons & Parks' play will determine if this was the right 2017 play but Carter will determine if this was the right play long term.  Given our ability to ID secondary stars I'm very optimistic.  Likely we don't really start to see until 2018 as I'd expect Carter to simply be a ST contributor this year barring injury.  

Still, I don't like the timing. TJ was a leader on this team and by cutting him now you are doing so at the worst possible time for him to latch on with a team this season for more than bet minimum. Not to mention forgoing the likely 5th for comp we would have gotten if he played out his contract.

[Broncofan]

17 minutes ago, broncos_fan _from _uk said:

Still, I don't like the timing. TJ was a leader on this team and by cutting him now you are doing so at the worst possible time for him to latch on with a team this season for more than bet minimum. Not to mention forgoing the likely 5th for comp we would have gotten if he played out his contract.

Agreed the timing sucks.  Doubt anyone can defend that.  It's absolutely a huge reason why his teammates are upset, and feel for him.  

The comp pick only matters if he got paid a lot next year.  I'm not so sure that happens FWIW.  But either way, the timing does suck.   That's the one part about this all that's impossible to defend.  The only mitigating factor is that Elway & co. clearly didn't think Carter was going to flash this much in the PS, and force their hand in keeping him on the 53-man roster.  So it's not like Elway & co. went out to screw Ward out of $ - it just worked out that way.  Still, sucks for him.  Ward is going to for sure latch on somewhere, and if there's a market for more than 1-2 teams as reported, then he can get back some of the $ lost beyond vet min - but say, 2M-2.5M still costs him 2M.  Can't get around that part sucking hard for him - and for all the talk of "respect", that's a polite way for players to talk about the $ this is costing him...which we all get.

[broncosfan07]

Yeah the timing was pretty poor, they already knew Ward was slowing down and having trouble staying on the field. Why not cut him early in the offseason and use that money to shore up another position? They obviously like Simmons/Parks enough because both played a ton last year.

[Broncofan]

So it turns out Ward won't lose any $ if the reports are true - good for him if that's the case - really takes the sting out of the timing for the release.  

While I support the move if Jamal Carter is really as good as the coaches think (and given our track record I have to trust them) Ward getting screwed over by the timing of the release $ wise was the only indefensible part on our side for a guy that gave his all and under contract.   Now this should help all sides move on and worry about football only stuff. 

.  

Josina Anderson (@JosinaAnderson)

9/3/17, 4:24 AM I'm told free agent S T.J. Ward is signing with the #Bucs on a 1-year, $5M deal, per  source.

[thebestever6]

12 hours ago, Broncofan said:

Agreed the timing sucks.  Doubt anyone can defend that.  It's absolutely a huge reason why his teammates are upset, and feel for him.  

The comp pick only matters if he got paid a lot next year.  I'm not so sure that happens FWIW.  But either way, the timing does suck.   That's the one part about this all that's impossible to defend.  The only mitigating factor is that Elway & co. clearly didn't think Carter was going to flash this much in the PS, and force their hand in keeping him on the 53-man roster.  So it's not like Elway & co. went out to screw Ward out of $ - it just worked out that way.  Still, sucks for him.  Ward is going to for sure latch on somewhere, and if there's a market for more than 1-2 teams as reported, then he can get back some of the $ lost beyond vet min - but say, 2M-2.5M still costs him 2M.  Can't get around that part sucking hard for him - and for all the talk of "respect", that's a polite way for players to talk about the $ this is costing him...which we all get.

Even if we got a comp pick next year if we lost Carter. Who we value more than the 5th does it really matter? A bird in hand is worth more than 2 in the bush.

Tj and his farewell message were a class act.

[Broncofan]

Now the latest reports say "up to 5m".  Will be interesting to see how much guaranteed $ he got.   Hopefully at least 3M.  

[Broncofan]

So in the end Ward only loses 500k guaranteed and could make 1m on top of the 4m base.   Good for him glad he didn't get screwed out of more $.  

	Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo)
9/3/17, 9:40 AM It's $4m base, with upside to $5m. So just south of the $4.5m he was to earn in Denver with a chance to pass it. twitter.com/profootballtal…

[Broncofan]

As a final post script - for all the public outcry, Ward acknowledged to Renck in private last week he saw this possibility.  It's fascinating to see the veil pulled back - since we only heard about this in public on Tuesday.

Classy exit for sure on his part.  Glad he didn't lose a ton of $   

Troy Renck (@TroyRenck)

9/3/17, 11:08 AM Bracing for exit, Ward told me last week he "would make sure it works out." Didn't want to leave #Broncos. But Bucs good fit on 1 yr deal

[AKRNA]

17 hours ago, broncosfan07 said:

Yeah the timing was pretty poor, they already knew Ward was slowing down and having trouble staying on the field. Why not cut him early in the offseason and use that money to shore up another position? They obviously like Simmons/Parks enough because both played a ton last year.

For what It's worth, the timing was strictly due to circumstances. In February who'd have thought TJ would be cut ? Certainly not the FO.

TJ's hamstring, the emergence of our young safeties, the fact our 1st string D didn't miss a beat all played a large part.

After all, NFL does stand for "not for long".

[broncosfan07]

35 minutes ago, AKRNA said:

For what It's worth, the timing was strictly due to circumstances. In February who'd have thought TJ would be cut ? Certainly not the FO.

TJ's hamstring, the emergence of our young safeties, the fact our 1st string D didn't miss a beat all played a large part.

After all, NFL does stand for "not for long".

I mean Ward missed the last few games last season so they had a pretty good look at Simmons and Parks. Now maybe they wanted to see how they progressed but it was clear Ward was never going to be re-signed.

Either way I don't have much of a problem with it, I just think the timing could've been a lot better. 

[AKRNA]

4 minutes ago, broncosfan07 said:

I mean Ward missed the last few games last season so they had a pretty good look at Simmons and Parks. Now maybe they wanted to see how they progressed but it was clear Ward was never going to be re-signed.

Either way I don't have much of a problem with it, I just think the timing could've been a lot better. 

It sure could've been, no doubt. I was real pleased seeing the deal he got with TB though. His future wasn't going to be here.

[Broncofan]

1 hour ago, AKRNA said:

For what It's worth, the timing was strictly due to circumstances. In February who'd have thought TJ would be cut ? Certainly not the FO.

TJ's hamstring, the emergence of our young safeties, the fact our 1st string D didn't miss a beat all played a large part.

After all, NFL does stand for "not for long".

Absolutely.  And that's why the furor has died down ESP. since Ward didn't get screwed over $ wise.  

Everyone wishes him well.   But life goes on.  Watch our leaders pump up Simmons and mentor Parks/Carter.   

Honestly given our other issues on our roster and need to address weaknesses elsewhere turning over our secondary to cheaper younger guys here allows us the chance to field a more complete team.   There's still risk we may not get full replacement in run support or blitz timing but given how much we think about Carter it seems a no brainer to do this.  

We lost 2 guys on waivers we thought a LOT less of in Schofield and Sloter (or at least consensus split) to waivers.   Hard to argue that Carter wouldn't have been a similar casualty.  Given how the WW ran I think this was absolutely the right call.  But as Elway says the right call isn't always the popular one. 

[elliot878]

On 9/2/2017 at 7:46 PM, Broncofan said:

Agreed the timing sucks.  Doubt anyone can defend that.  It's absolutely a huge reason why his teammates are upset, and feel for him.  

The comp pick only matters if he got paid a lot next year.  I'm not so sure that happens FWIW.  But either way, the timing does suck.   That's the one part about this all that's impossible to defend.  The only mitigating factor is that Elway & co. clearly didn't think Carter was going to flash this much in the PS, and force their hand in keeping him on the 53-man roster.  So it's not like Elway & co. went out to screw Ward out of $ - it just worked out that way.  Still, sucks for him.  Ward is going to for sure latch on somewhere, and if there's a market for more than 1-2 teams as reported, then he can get back some of the $ lost beyond vet min - but say, 2M-2.5M still costs him 2M.  Can't get around that part sucking hard for him - and for all the talk of "respect", that's a polite way for players to talk about the $ this is costing him...which we all get.

 

The fact that they were working on a deal before camp and ended up cutting him loose tells me they had no clue Carter was the player that he's shown to be throughout preseason and training camp.  @Broncofan is spot on about this.

My concern is whether TJ's outspokenness so far about the situation will hurt Elway's recruiting of free agents over the next year or two.  It's a shame because this happens all over the league, year in, year out - just Denver's turn, I guess.

[BroncoBruin]

I don't think they were actually working on a deal. I think TJ and his agent wanted one, made a public push for it, and Elway said no.