Woody Paige: Chris Harris won’t be back with Broncos, who are adding another ex-Pro Bowl cornerback A.J. Bouye
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vic Fangio finally got his guy. He may get another soon.
Although the NFL’s official old year, which doesn’t conform to the Gregorian calendar, doesn’t end for two weeks, the Broncos already have started aggressively on 2020.
Tuesday the Broncos agreed to acquired former Pro Bowl cornerback A.J. Bouye from the Jaguars, meaning that the Broncos’ own former Pro Bowl cornerback, Chris Harris, won’t be back.
The Broncos must believe they have traded up — from a 30-year-old slot corner, who was forced to play outside last season, to a 29-year-old outside corner who used to be a slot corner. A.J. will cost the Broncos $13.438 million, less than a mil of the number CHJ was offered. Harris is being courted by five other teams, including the Raiders, and probably will collect about $15 million per.
Both Harris and Bouye have done well for undrafted free agents.
Fangio certainly has admired Bouye’s game. After A.J. became a free agent (late of the Texans) in 2017, the Bears, who employed Vic as their defensive coordinator, made a pricey offer to the cornerback, but he chose the Jags for less money.
Now, Bouye, who was on the Jacksonville purge list (along with practically every other starter of the team’s marvelous ’17 defense), seems eager to play for Fangio.
In fact, he said buddy Harris has praised Denver to him, and Bouye enjoyed his three games since 2016 at Mile High.
He joins a Broncos secondary that has transitioned from No-Fly Zone to Big-Ticket Troupe. Corner-turned safety Kareem Jackson, who Bouye backed up as a rookie in Houston, will earn $14 mil, and safety Justin Simmons will get at least $11 million when the Broncos play franchise tag with him if they can’t get a long-term deal completed. Then, there’s cornerback Bryce Callahan at $7.83 million. Of course, Callahan hasn’t had a drop of sweat since coming to the Broncos as a free agent a year ago. Those four, not counting the soon-to-depart Joe Flacco, are the second-, third-, fifth- and sixth-highest-paid Broncos defensively and offensively.
Adding in other cornerbacks and safeties back under contract currently, the secondary will be primary at $50 million.
Certainly, John Elway’s Financial Foursome will be more valuable than the Rockies’ 100 million-dollar bullpen Jeff Bridich assembled.
And, possibly, the Broncos will sign cornerback Prince Amukamara, another ex-Fangio disciple who recently was cut by the Bears. He obviously won’t be provided with a proposal duplicating the $9 million he received last season, but he would have the Broncos’ all-time second longest name of a player that starts with the letter “A.’’
With the NFL salary cap stretching to $200 million in ’20, the Broncos did possess more than $70 million (plus another $10 mil when Flacco is jettisoned) before the Bouye appendage, but the indefatigable Broncos are just getting started.
The Broncos can open negotiations with unrestricted free agents March 16.
Especially if they sign Amukamara, and even if they don’t, scratch cornerback and safety from the wish catalogue. Defensive linemen Derek Wolfe, Shelby Harris and Adam Gotsis are free to go. Gotsis is finished here, as are both Harris and Shelby, but Wolfe could return if he’s agreeable to five years, $50 million, with half guaranteed.
Even though the Broncos have been top heavy with their salaries on the defensive side since Peyton Manning retired, they’ll continue to concentrate on defense (as Bouye proves) in free agency and on offense in the draft.
Nevertheless, Elway et al. have busted on too many veteran free agents since the magnetism of playing with Manning and a Super Bowl-bound team concluded. Consider Menelik Watson, Clinton McDonald, Case Keenum, Flacco, Donald Stephenson and, thus far, Callahan and, yes, Ja’Wuan-Hit-Wonder James.
The Broncos are desperately yearning for another 2014, when Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and Emmanuel Sanders arrived in town. (All three excelled.) If they can charm five free agents this year, and select collegians exceedingly well for the third straight year (following Draft Disaster ’16), perhaps the Broncos won’t miss the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season for the first span since 2006-2010.
The Broncos’ priorities should be defensive tackle D.J. Reader, inside linebacker Joe Schobert, offensive guard Joe Thuney, wide receiver Robby Anderson and running back Kenyan Drake, a quality grab.
Then, Fangio would have plenty of good guys to work with.





