Could Michael Thomas shake up the Broncos’ wide-receiver room?

The Broncos have players at wide receiver. A former Pro Bowler. A reliable move-the-chains threat coming off of a torn ACL. And the best of the bunch might be the 2020 first-round pick who overcame two-and-a-half years of injuries and inconsistency with a stretch run that showed why he was so highly regarded coming out of college.

And that doesn’t even include one of the league’s fastest players.

But the ex-Pro Bowler, Courtland Sutton, hasn’t been the same since his September 2020 ACL tear. The reliable Tim Patrick now enters 2023 off the same injury, and his contract essentially makes this a make-or-break year. Denver’s biggest decision could be on Jerry Jeudy; the Broncos must decide whether to pick up his fifth-year option. And as talented and resilkent as KJ Hamler is, a lengthy injury CV that includes more games missed than played as a pro is an anvil chained to his leg.

So, the Broncos have players. And young prospects, too. But with the questions that linger, all of that doesn’t mean they might not be shopping on the market.

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A THOMAS-PAYTON REUNION?

So, Thomas isn’t a free agent right now. But there are over 32 million reasons why he will be. Because according to terms first reported by ESPN last month, a restructured contract means the Saints will owe him a $31.755 million roster bonus in 2024 if he is on the team for the third day of the upcoming league year.

So, Thomas could be back — but if he is, he’s back for two years, with a massive hit in 2024. The Saints’ cap gymnastics over the years are the stuff of legend. What they’ve accomplished provides fuel for the “cap isn’t real” crowd. But the lengths the Saints must go to in order to be in compliance by the start of the 2023 league year on March 15 are heroic. They must clear $57 million in the next three weeks.

And the Broncos could be poised to capitalize.

I noted the issues regarding Dre’Mont Jones’ contract on Feb. 22 and how that factors into the Broncos’ cap planning. (There are no worries about cash — not under current ownership.) Re-signing him could allow the Broncos to have Jones back at a reasonable cap number for 2023. Other moves can be made to create more cap space; cutting Graham Glasgow and Chase Edmonds would create nearly $17 million of space with just $3 million of dead money. So, the space can — and will — exist to bring in Thomas if they want, even without another trade to clear space.

That said, Thomas has just 10 games played to his name in the last three seasons. Injuries derailed what appeared to be a Hall-of-Fame trajectory in his first four seasons. He has fewer receptions, yards and touchdowns in the last three years combined than in any one of his first four campaigns. When he’s healthy, he’s still among the best at making catches in traffic — and in Weeks 1-3, he looked like he was all the way back.

But if the Saints decide to move on from Thomas, he might be worth the gamble for Denver.

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POTENTIAL VALUE ADDITIONS

Look, this is not the place where you want to spend a great deal of money. Not with the possibility of picking up Jeudy’s fifth-year option for 2024. And not with Sutton and Patrick consuming a combined $29.35 million of this year’s salary cap, per OvertheCap.com.

And even if they add Thomas, don’t expect a huge deal given his injury history. But beyond him, the market has some intriguing talent — specifically some veteran help at likely reasonable prices.

ROBERT WOODS, TITANS: Tennessee released him this week ahead of his age-31 season. On the positive side, he wouldn’t count toward the compensatory-pick calculation, because he would be a street free agent. And he showed he could be productive with the Rams; he had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2019 and 2020 and had comparable per-game numbers in 2021, missing eight games that year. His production tailed off in Tennessee, but some of that is due to the Titans’ offense and quarterback situation. If the Broncos trade one of their receivers, Woods could be enough to fill a void.

MARVIN JONES, JAGUARS: The season in which he led the NFL in yardage per reception is six years in the rear-view mirror, but Jones remains a steady presence, capable of moving the chains — as he did on 29 of his 46 catches last year.

JULIO JONES, BUCCANEERS: Few coaches know better than Payton about what Jones could do in his imperial phase. But those days appear far off for the 13-year veteran, who averaged a career-low 12.5 yards per catch on 24 receptions — another career low — with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay last year. Signing the 34-year-old would be a move that flashes back to when Mike Shanahan brought a series of veteran receivers — Andre Reed, Rob Moore, Robert Brooks, Willie Jackson and Jerry Rice — to Broncos camp for a final attempt to wring something out.

JARVIS LANDRY, SAINTS: Landry remains his usual possession-receiver self, but in his only season as a Saint, he missed 8 games. Still, the Broncos don’t have a true slot receiver. The 30-year-old Landry could merit a look.

JAMISON CROWDER, BILLS: Crowder is another pass catcher who can align in the slot, although he can move all over the field. He’s coming off of a fractured ankle that limited him to 4 games last season. Prior to that, he was a reliable target, good for a little over 10 yards per catch and 4 to 5 receptions per game.

ANDRE ROBERTS, PANTHERS: He’s not much of a pass catcher, and his punt-return numbers dropped in the last two seasons. However, as recently as 2021, he burned the injury-and-COVID-19 battered Broncos for a 101-yard touchdown on a kickoff return. The 35-year-old could be worth a small contract to see if he has anything left in the tank to help the Broncos’ ailing special teams.

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