During his end-of-season press conference last December, Broncos general manager John Elway indicated that running back Phillip Lindsay might be in line to receive a revised contract — and pay raise.
“We’ll get back into [that] when we start planning and budgeting for 2020 and where we are money-wise,” Elway said. “Obviously, Phillip has done a tremendous job and being the first college free agent to go over 1,000 yards [in two consecutive years to start his career].
That was before Denver signed Melvin Gordon to a two-year, $16 million contract. The Broncos are now down to around $18 million in remaining salary cap and the team will use some money on bargain free agents, draft picks and in-season signings later this year.
Will there be any money left to give Lindsay a raise?
“I’ve talked with Phillip’s agent,” Elway said during a conference call with reporters on March 31. “We’ll see what happens [with] what we can do later on. That’s not a guarantee either way, but we’ll see what we can do later on.”
It’s unclear just how far away “later on” will be.
Denver might wait until after the draft and training camp before re-working Lindsay’s deal, giving the team more time to possibly sign more free agents or pickup players unexpectedly cut by other teams this summer.
Lindsay still has a year remaining on his contract so the Broncos are not obligated to give him a pay raise. After he rushed for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons, though, Lindsay probably deserves to be rewarded.
On his current contract, Lindsay is scheduled to earn $750,000 this season before becoming a restricted free agent in 2021, according to Spotrac.com. Denver will likely negotiate a contract extension with Lindsay at some point, it’s just not clear when the Broncos plan to do so.
