SEPTEMBER 5: Surtain will receive a $15MM signing bonus, as detailed by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. His compensation for 2024 and ’25 is fully locked in at signing, and his earnings for two seasons after that is set to vest one year early. That includes a $10MM option bonus in 2026, his $7.63MM base salary for that season and a $17MM 2027 salary.
Partial guarantees (for injury at signing, and a full guarantee down the road) are in place concerning Surtain’s 2028 base salary, which totals $19.49MM. His compensation beyond that point – including a $23.49 salary in 2029 – is not locked in, but he will have seen considerable cashflow by that point.
SEPTEMBER 4: After two years of gridlock, the NFL’s cornerback market will see substantial movement. The Broncos have a deal in place with Patrick Surtain, according to veteran NFL reporter Jordan Schultz. As could be expected, a sizable gap will soon exist between Denver’s dominant corner and the field.
Surtain agreed to a four-year, $96MM extension. This makes the 2021 top-10 pick the NFL’s highest-paid corner by a $3MM margin — in terms of AAV. This agreement includes $77.5MM guaranteed, Schultz adds. The deal bridges the gap between the CB and WR markets, and even though a sizable gulf still exists, Surtain began the process of narrowing it.
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Because the Broncos picked up Surtain’s $19.8MM fifth-year option in April, this deal will tie the All-Pro defender to the team through the 2029 season. Although clubs made offers for Surtain at the 2023 deadline and trade rumors emerged ahead of this draft, the Broncos had viewed the second-generation NFL corner as a building block for the Sean Payton era. They will back up that talk with this extension.
Denver could have kept the former No. 9 overall pick on his rookie deal into 2025; his first-round contract called for a $1.1MM base salary this year. Surtain secured this megadeal early, and it will give the Broncos cost certainty with their top player. Negotiations intensified over the weekend, per Schultz, who adds the deal was finalized Tuesday night.
Considering Surtain’s age (24) and his performance level, this could certainly be viewed as a bargain for the team. It ties Surtain to Denver through his age-29 season, and the AAV still comes in $11MM south of where Justin Jefferson moved the wide receiver market this offseason. Though, Surtain wanting to lock in a veteran contract early makes sense as well. The deal gives him a $3MM lead on the field, with Jaire Alexander having held the title as the NFL’s highest-paid corner since May 2022. Alexander’s deal had stood as the top CB payment long enough the NFL’s highest-paid safety — the Buccaneers’ Antoine Winfield Jr. — eclipsed it this offseason.
In terms of guarantees, Surtain’s number also created separation between he and the cornerback field. Though, perhaps not as much as should have been expected. The Broncos will receive four additional years of control in exchange for moving the CB guarantee ceiling up by $6.5MM from Denzel Ward‘s previous league-leading mark ($71.25MM). Jalen Ramsey‘s Dolphins rework also passed $71MM in total guarantees.
The gap between CBs and WRs has expanded over the past decade. At this point nine years ago, the cornerback ceiling (Patrick Peterson‘s $14MM-per-year number on his Cardinals extension) matched the deals given to Demaryius Thomas and Dez Bryant at the 2015 franchise tag deadline. Since that point, however, teams began valuing wideouts at a higher rate. The 2022 and ’24 offseasons have separated the two positions significantly. While Surtain did well to move CB money north of where it had resided for years, 12 WRs still out-earn the Denver defender.
Denver received criticism for drafting Surtain over Justin Fields in 2021, but GM George Paton was proven right for making that move. Surtain is a two-time Pro Bowler who earned first-team All-Pro acclaim in 2022. A panel of NFL staffers (via ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler) named the fourth-year defender as the NFL’s top corner this offseason. While the Broncos have questions about their No. 2 cornerback spot, they have enjoyed the luxury of an elite stopper anchoring this position group for a bit.
Paton has now signed two members of his first draft class to lucrative extensions, with Surtain following right guard Quinn Meinerz in agreeing to terms on extensions. Meinerz and Surtain join Javonte Williams, Baron Browning and Jonathon Cooper as starters from Denver’s ’21 draft class. This group has given Payton some pieces to build around, but the Broncos’ issues finding a quarterback have continued to interrupt its young position players from making a considerable difference in the win column. As the team is set to begin a Bo Nix-centered plan this season, the long-term vision is coming into focus.
Payton admitted he participated in a smokescreen effort around the Broncos’ first-round pick this offseason. The draft run-up featured rumors about Surtain being used as a trade chip to move the Broncos up the board from No. 12 overall. Surtain, who said he did not expect to be traded, also generated extensive interest at last year’s deadline.
Denver set a two-first-rounder asking price — what Ramsey fetched in 2019 — to start a conversation on Surtain. Although at least three offers came, none were on that level. Surtain helped the team vault from 1-5 into the playoff race following the deadline. He will be the Broncos’ clear DB anchor post-Justin Simmons.
Surtain’s timeline differs from Marshon Lattimore‘s, as Payton authorized a fifth-year payday for the 2017 Saints first-rounder. But the Broncos will act early with their top performer. This doubles the first time the Broncos have extended a rookie-deal player with two years of control remaining. While Russell Wilson‘s dead money prevents the Broncos from capitalizing fully on Nix’s rookie deal, the team taking on the lion’s share of the penalty in 2024 will start to open up opportunities beginning in 2025. The Surtain and Meinerz extensions reflect that.
Surtain’s price will set a high bar for 2022 draftees Sauce Gardner and Derek Stingley, but it should be expected those defenders will use this as a springboard to move the CB market closer to where WR salaries have gone. Both Gardner and Stingley become extension-eligible in 2025.
Audric Estime is heading to IR due to an ankle injury, per the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson. This will sideline the rookie until at least Week 6. The Broncos used one of their cutdown-day IR-return spots — on cornerback Damarri Mathis — to leave them seven activations. Estime would stand to count toward one of those slots if he is activated from IR.
