The Denver Broncos want to get Tyler Onyedim signed, but he's trying to get as much guaranteed money as possible.
The Denver Broncos have signed nearly all of their recent draft picks, but the one who remains unsigned is turning out to be an intriguing exception. The Broncos drafted defensive Tyler Onyedim out of Texas A&M in the third round, but there’s some wiggle room in his negotiation process, according to a report written by Luca Evans of the Denver Post.
The Broncos announced that they’d signed running back Jonah Coleman and offensive lineman Kage Casey earlier this week, but the “league circumstances” of Onyedim’s deal are somewhat different.
Specifically, this is about the amount of guaranteed money in Onyedim’s rookie contract. The Broncos had this happen last year with running back RJ Harvey, and the common thread between the two players is that they were both drafted in the third round in the 60-70 range.
Onyedim was drafted with pick No. 66 by the Broncos, and the linchpin in this process is quarterback Carson Beck, who was drafted by the Arizona Cardinal with pick No. 65. If Beck’s representatives can negotiate a guarantee in some amount of the quarterback’s rookie contract, there could be a trickle-down effect that would benefit Onyedim.
This likely won’t be dragged out for long, though, according to Evans. Only six players selected at the top of the third round remain unsigned, with Onyedim among them.
One reason for this is that the official terms of this are very clear. The standard contract for a player drafted in this position will have Onyedim signing a four-year deal with a total value of $7.39 million, which will include a signing bonus of $1.83 million.
The Broncos see the defensive tackle as a replacement for John- Franklin Myers, the lineman who left the Broncos to sign with the Tennessee Titans in free agency. Onyedim spent much of rookie camp rotating between different spots on the defensive line, which is how the Broncos used Franklin-Myers.
“He kinda fit the total package we were looking for, inside,” Broncos assistant general manager Reed Burckhardt said after the draft.
The situation puts Onyedim in an interesting situation. The Broncos want to get the defensive tackle signed and locked up accordingly, but Onyedim is right to wait and get as much money as he can guaranteed. Last year the process with Harvey dragged out for months, but both Onyedim and the Broncos are hoping that won’t be the case this time around.
