The Broncos had a pair of first-round picks in 2010. One is long gone, both from Denver and from the rest of the league. The other could be hanging around Colorado a long time.
But as receiver Demaryius Thomas enters a contract year, he’s not paying much attention to the next contract.
“I never think about that,” Thomas recently said, via Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post. “I don’t even know if [former Broncos receiver Eric] Decker was talking about it [in 2013]. All we talked about was being able to play with each other again. He wanted to come back, but it just didn’t work out. You really never think about the big payday, or anything like that. We like playing together, and I like playing football.”
Per Renck, there have been no talks aimed at extending the deal. Thomas seems to be fine with that. Even though plenty of receivers who aren’t as good as him are making more money. Including Decker.
Thomas hasn’t always been a star. But that’s because the teams hasn’t always had a star quarterback. As Renck points out, Thomas caught 54 passes in his first two NFL seasons, when the quarterbacks were Kyle Orton and the team’s other first-round draft pick in 2010. Since the arrival of Peyton Manning, Thomas has snared 186 total passes in two seasons.
This year, the Broncos decided that Decker was a luxury they couldn’t afford. Thomas could be a necessity, especially with the organization trying to milk the most out of Manning’s final seasons.