he is a restricted free agent<\/a>.<\/p>\nThat puts Denver in a strong position to keep him, but also means McMillian is set for a major raise and perhaps a top-of-the-market extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cBest in the world,\u201d Denver inside linebacker Alex Singleton, himself an impending free agent, said after McMillian\u2019s game-saving pick against the Bills. \u201cSomeone should pay that dude $16 million a year and it still won\u2019t be enough. He\u2019s the best nickel in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singleton would be a good agent. Though nickel has become a premium position in the NFL, the top of the market at the position is currently around $13 million per season. Some hybrid players check in between $14-18 million and from there it\u2019s the upper echelon of the cornerback market\u2014 Surtain territory.<\/p>\n
The Broncos have essentially three options: They can try to work out an extension before free agency begins, they can put a restricted free agent tender on McMillian \u2014 then either let him play at that number or continue working on extension \u2014 or they can trade him.<\/p>\n
McMillian\u2019s agent, Deryk Gilmore, told The Post that he thinks an extension this spring makes sense.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a proven guy, he\u2019s come in and he\u2019s battled through,\u201d Gilmore said. \u201cThey\u2019ve drafted people over him and he\u2019s never complained. He\u2019s embraced the challenge and risen. \u2026 He loves it there. It\u2019s a great fit. It\u2019s all stuff that we all know.\u201d<\/p>\n
If an extension isn\u2019t completed by mid-March, Gilmore said he thinks the most likely outcome is a second-round tender for McMillian.<\/p>\n
There are four RFA tenders: first round, second round, original round and right of first refusal. Since McMillian went undrafted, the original round is out of the equation. Right of first refusal makes little sense because it would allow other teams to do the negotiating with McMillian without the potential cost of having to part with draft capital.<\/p>\n
The RFA tender amounts will be finalized once the NFL\u2019s official salary cap for 2026 is set in the coming weeks, but OvertheCap currently projects the second-round tender at $5.81 million and a first-round tender at $8.11 million. Other teams can try to sign a player who has been given a first or second-round tender, but Denver would have the right to match contract terms or opt not to match and take the commensurate draft pick from the signing team.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s become uncommon for players to receive and actually play on a first-round tender, though Payton and New Orleans gave Taysom Hill one in 2020 ahead of free agency before eventually working out an extension with him in April of that year.<\/p>\n
The Broncos have used second-round tenders on four players since 2020 \u2014 OL Elijah Wilkinson (2020), Tim Patrick (2021), LB Alexander Johnson (2021) and OLB Malik Reed (2022). All four signed the tender but went different directions from there. Patrick got an mid-season extension. Denver traded Reed to Pittsburgh at the end of training camp in 2022. Johnson and Wilkinson each were injured during the season and ended up with other teams.<\/p>\n
Broncos GM George Paton wouldn\u2019t say exactly what the Broncos\u2019 plan for McMillian was during his postseason news conference, but he raved about the defensive back\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember his first year, we started him outside against the Chargers in the last game of the year,\u201d Paton said last month. \u201cAnd I\u2019m just like, \u2018Oh man, he\u2019s 5-9, he\u2019s going to play outside against his receivers.\u2019 He played a great game, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Wow, maybe we have something here.\u2019 Then he\u2019s just gotten better, in the run game, pass game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to work through that as a staff in that (roster) deep dive and kind of go through that and just keep that in-house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph has talked extensively about McMillian\u2019s importance to Denver\u2019s defense \u2014 he said last month that McMillian is at his best when \u201cthings are hard and dark\u201d \u2014 and teammates have similarly high opinions. Safety Talanoa Hufanga knew some about McMillian before arriving in Denver last spring and thought, \u201cthis guy is good, he can play, he\u2019s a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he got to Denver and saw McMillian up close and personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kid you not, I\u2019m not even joking, OTAs to training camp \u2014 even before the season started \u2014 I\u2019m like, \u2018why is this guy not talked about enough?\u2019\u201d Hufanga said after the season. \u201cThis dude went undrafted? I just started putting all these pieces together and next thing you know, you see this dude come up with big plays over and over again. To see how he works, when he steps on the field, there\u2019s nobody that can beat him. For a guy that\u2019s a little undersized as a nickel, to see the heart he has \u2026 J-Mac is definitely a top guy in our room.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happens with McMillian ultimately will have a ripple effect for the Broncos.<\/p>\n
Denver has 2025 first-round pick Jahdae Barron, whom Payton sees first as a nickel but with the flex to play outside or even safety. Riley Moss, meanwhile, is entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2026 and reserve Kris Abrams-Draine has two years left on his rookie deal.<\/p>\n
McMillian will likely be the first in a sequence of decisions that could all play out this spring or could unfold over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
Will Denver allow a team to tempt it with draft pick compensation? Or will the Broncos work to get a long-term deal done in the coming weeks with a player who has turned himself from a plucky undrafted defensive back to one of the best nickels in football?<\/p>\n
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ja\u2019Quan McMillian is in many ways the central figure in Denver\u2019s defense. He\u2019s not the group\u2019s best player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[3882,232,231,258,2426,7,1006,3894,929,926,6,3267,1514,1813,9,3319,7762,2832],"class_list":{"0":"post-764627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-alex-singleton","9":"tag-broncos","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-broncos","12":"tag-denverbroncos","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-jahdae-barron","15":"tag-kris-abrams-draine","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-more-broncos-news","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-pat-surtain-ii","20":"tag-riley-moss","21":"tag-sean-payton","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-talanoa-hufanga","24":"tag-taysom-hill","25":"tag-vance-joseph"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116103268525453595","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}