The 5 O’Clock Club: Tag & Trade with John Elway?

The 5 o’clock club aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

John Elway, as most NFL executives are wont to do this time of year, is starting to try to muddy the waters ahead of free agency and the draft.

As reports begin to circulate that the Broncos may be interested in drafting Baker Mayfield or Josh Allen with their 5th overall pick, Elway is aiming to blow as much smoke as possible. Pro Football Talk had a report this weekend:

[The Broncos] could pursue a veteran [quarterback] in free agency or via a trade and Broncos General Manager John Elway said he feels the team has the draft picks to make [that] route a viable option.

“Any time you draft that high you have to make ’em count,” Elway said, via Mike Klis of KUSA. “We’ve got a lot of picks so we have the ammo also [to trade], so we’ve got to make sure we make them all count.”

We’re not just talking about draft picks either. To make room in the salary cap for a veteran signal caller, Denver would need to shift some dollars. The obvious target is Aquib Talib.

From OverTheCap:

A report by a local Denver news outlet provides some detail:

Bronco fans may see Aqib Talib represent their team for the last time Sunday when he plays for the AFC in the Pro Bowl Game.

Although Talib has two years left on the six-year, $57 million contract he signed with the Broncos in March 2014, Denver is expected to place him on the trading block because of financial considerations.

The Broncos have two other younger cornerbacks in Chris Harris Jr. ($8.5 million) and Bradley Roby ($8.526 million) scheduled to make a combined $17.026 million in 2018.

Talib, who will turn 32 on February 13, is scheduled to make $11 million in 2018 and $8 million in 2019. Even with the salary cap going up from $167 million to between $176 million and $180 million for the 2018 season, it’s difficult for a team to allocate $28 million to three cornerbacks.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to put together a trade scenario involving Denver & Washington that starts with the Redskins putting the franchise tag on Kirk, then sending him to Denver.

Denver would get Kirk (and his $34m tag), while the Redskins would get Talib and his $11m 2018 salary.

The teams would swap draft picks, with the Broncos getting the 13th pick and the Redskins getting Denver’s 5th overall. The Redskins might have to throw in a Saturday pick to even things out, but I imagine that a 30-year-old QB in the prime of his career has more trade value than a 32-year-old cornerback, so I’m not sure how much value the Redskins would have to add to move up the 8 spots.

The Broncos would immediately sign a new long-term deal with Kirk, replacing his one-year contract and allowing them to lower his 2018 cap hit and secure his services for several years.

The Redskins would end up with a talented but aging CB, an $11m cap hit, and the 5th overall pick in the draft. Of course, the Redskins already have one 30-year-old cornerback scheduled to account for $16.93m against the cap in 2018.