When we last heard the name of Ja’Wuan James mentioned in the context of the Denver Broncos, All-Pro left striker Garett Bolles said what each player in that locker room was probably thinking: “He knows what he needs to do to gain our confidence back.”
After opting out of the 2020 season, James has a lot of work to do to regain the faith and trust of his teammates, coaches, board and fans. Bolles said that the day he cleaned his closet before jumping into the NFL’s 2021 off-season. The next day, John Elway stepped down as general manager, and just over a week later, George Paton was hired to replace him.
One of the big reasons for the Broncos to make the change at GM was the abject need to get a new set of eyes and a fresh perspective on all the problems that have prevented this team from reaching the playoffs in the past five years. One problem that a new and new perspective could perhaps solve is James’.
Earlier this week, 9NEWSBroncos insider Mike Klis discussed the James issue with The Drive’s Darren McKee and Tyler Polumbus, launching a controversial approach that I can only assume is polite.
“If I’m from the Broncos, I’m not sure if you’re going to bring Ja’Wuan James back. I know you’d have to eat another $ 10 million, “Klis told 104.3 The fan on Friday, via Reddit. “But you already had to eat $ 17 million, so it would be eating $ 27 million for free. How good will it look after two years off?”
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How much would the Broncos cost the privilege of not having James in the cast? If cut before June 1, James would charge a $ 19 million dead limit charge per Over The Cap. If the Broncos waited and assigned him a post-June 1 cut, the maximum would be $ 13 million this year, with $ 3 million dead in each of the next two seasons.
“I think it’s a possibility, I really do,” said Klis of James’ release at the Broncos.
So far, James has been a Bronco for two calendar years and took home, when Klis won, $ 27 million. What did the team receive in return?
63 fittings. James appeared in three games in 2019 after a knee injury at the season opener. This knee injury was controversial on several fronts, and not least of all was the Broncos’ belief that, as of Week 8, he was healthy enough to play.
James returned to the field that week on the road in Indianapolis, only to leave with a few clicks. The Broncos heavily armed him to play in Houston six weeks later, and in that game, James gave the team its most complete performance, but it was far from a 60-minute display.
James played the first half in Houston and then left, later complaining to Nicki Jhabvala, after The ateltico, that his knee was collapsing on him. In that fight with Jhabvala, James claimed that he had ruptured his knee ligaments in week 1, but the Broncos never confirmed that.
One of the NFL’s clichés is that ‘money is the language’ of it. Another maxim that is widely used because of its veracity is this: if you really want to know the opinion of a team on a certain subject, observe what it does, not what it says.
How did the Broncos act so obviously against James’ passive-aggressive claims about broken ligaments? The team never put James on the reserve due to injury. Because? Because the severity of the injury was not considered serious enough to keep him out of the field for at least eight weeks.
“It goes back – the medical team thought he should have been able to play in the first year,” Klis told McKee and Polumbus. “Ja’Wuan was not very happy about it. This has a chance to be considered the worst of the worst free agent hires.”
Paton’s predecessor made James the highest-paid right-wing player in NFL history (a short-lived distinction) in 2019, giving former Miami Dolphins in the first round a $ 51 million four-year contract with $ 27 million in full warranty. That was then, now it is.
If Paton launches and releases James, the right move will definitely fall as the biggest free agent bust of the Elway era – if not in the franchise’s history. However, there is still time for James to get around, depending on whether Paton pulls the plug.
It would be painful (costly) to cut it, but if Paton simply wants to turn the page on a failed deal in which the player operated in bad faith and cleaned James of the Broncos’ palate, it might be worth it. Exorcising that particular demon, especially in light of Bolles’ ancestry to All-Pro status, can have more than sufficient side benefits to offset the dead money charges.
If Paton made such a bold decision, Elijah Wilkinson, who started in 19 of the 29 games James lost, would likely become a priority to re-sign. Wilkinson is stepping out of his restricted free agent bid and will enter the open, unrestricted waters of the NFL market in March.
Demar Dotson would be another option, but at 35, it would be the epitome of a short-term band aid. Obviously, Broncos O-line coach Mike Munchak has a soft spot for Wilkinson, as Dotson was replaced in 2020, despite not yielding a layoff in eight matches.
It was absolutely assumed that James will be a Bronco in 2021 due to the dead limit charge that the team would suffer when releasing him. However, Klis gave voice to the distinct possibility that Paton could cut the bait. This now becomes a situation that we will pay more attention to in the coming weeks.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.