The Broncos want Pat Surtain II in Denver for “a long time”
Jan 9, 2024, 2:41 PM
Some have theorized that the Denver Broncos may use Pat Surtain II as trade bait—but that’s not how those in the organization see their star defender.
Surtain, 23, just finished his third pro season and was named to his second Pro Bowl last week. Since being drafted by George Paton at No. 9 in the 2021 NFL Draft, PS2 has quickly blossomed into one of the top cornerbacks in the league.
“We’re all big fans of Pat,” Paton, the general manager said on Tuesday in a postseason press conference. “We’re going to have a big meeting in a couple of weeks, and kind of go through the entire roster for Pat included. But we want Pat here for a long time. I’m not prepared to make any statements on anything moving forward.”
PS2 is slated to be worth $6.7 million against the cap in the 2024 season, and the Broncos will have an option to pick up his fifth season in 2025. Denver could eat some of their team control over the next two seasons and sign Surtain to a longer-term extension now, whenever they see fit. Denver will have to decide if they want to pick up his fifth-year option by May 2.
Even if the Broncos truly thought about packaging Surtain with their No. 12 overall pick in order to move up for a quarterback, the prudent thing for Paton to say is seeing PS2 as part of the team’s future. But it does seem unlikely that Denver would move on from the All-Pro corner given seven teams tried to deal for him at the deadline and the Broncos balked.
The most recent cornerback to get a big contract was Trevon Diggs, who got $97 million over five years from Dallas last offseason. Diggs was in a similar situation to Surtain, getting the deal before entering his fourth season, though because he was a second-round pick the Cowboys didn’t have the option to pick up a fifth year on his rookie contract. Packers standout corner Jaire Alexander is the highest-paid player at the position in the league, making $21 million a year. Green Bay skipped the former first-round pick’s fifth-year option and gave him $84 million over four seasons back in 2022.
Denver could also be forced to play it out for a season with PS2 given their incoming dead cap figure of over $80 million they’ll face after they cut Russell Wilson.
