The Denver Broncos hit June with the goal of inking three key players to long-term contracts, if possible. Two down. One to go.
With Von Miller getting his massive pay day a month after John Elway locked down underrated linebacker Brandon Marshall to a four-year, $32 million deal, it's Emmanuel Sanders' turn in the contract chair.
Sanders told The Denver Post last week that he's not worrying about the process.
"I don't know anything," Sanders said. "I told my agent, 'Don't get me involved unless there's something major.' I just sit back, work out and the rest will take care of itself ...
"... If it's meant for me, it's meant for me. But I'm going to keep playing ball because I love to do it."
Sanders enters the final year of the three-year, $15 million contract he signed in 2014. He's set to make $5 million this season.
The Post reported the Broncos have been "reluctant" to reach the $10 million per season plateau, which the likes of Allen Hurns and Doug Baldwin recently earned. Sanders, 29, is older than those second-contract players, but could fetch close to that price on the open market. With a young quarterback set to take over at some point in the next two years, however, Elway doesn't want to see his skilled offensive players continue to trickle out of town.
After focusing on Marshall and Miller, the attention turns to Sanders, but that doesn't mean a deal will come to fruition anytime soon. The common factor in the past two deals -- and you could throw in Demaryius Thomas last year -- was that they came together only when a hard deadline necessitated a deal get done.
There is no true deadline with Sanders until after the 2016 season.
