Could Denver’s Julius Thomas be an Oakland Raider in 2015?
Denver Broncos tight-end Julius Thomas says he has an eye on the Oakland Raiders as free agency awaits him.
If Peyton Manning decides to return to the Denver Broncos, he could be without one of his favorite targets in Julius Thomas.
.@Julius_Thomas says becoming a #Raiders TE next season is a possibility. He'll wait and see if they reach out. Grew up a Raiders fan.
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) January 26, 2015
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Considering the Broncos, with Manning at the helm, have been contenders since his arrival, it’s a surprise to hear a talent such as Thomas want to go elsewhere, but Charlie Campbell of Walter Football heard rumblings at the Senior Bowl that Thomas wants a lot of money, money the Broncos may not be willing to shovel forward with other key players also being free agents (Welker, Knighton, Marshall, D. Thomas, etc.).
"The Broncos have some tough decisions to make with a lot of talented players hitting free agency. Among that group is tight end Julius Thomas, whom many around the league believe is going to get a big pay day. Sources say that Thomas won’t give the Broncos a home team discount, and it looks likely that he’ll be moving on from Denver."
While Julius Thomas is a both a Raiders fan and California native (Stockton to be exact), the deciding factor in Thomas’ interest may be one of two things: 1) he doesn’t believe Peyton Manning has anything left in the tank to carry the team and doesn’t want to be left in the post-Manning years or 2) he knows the Raiders have cash to afford him, regardless of the price.
Though he’d be going from one of the best teams over the last two seasons and leaving one of the best quarterbacks in league history to one of the worst of the last decade, there’s a lot of upside in being an Oakland Raider in 2015, and by upside I mean it looks like the Raiders have finally found their quarterback of the future.
With Derek Carr showing a lot of positives from his rookie season (3270 yards, 21 touchdowns, 12 interceptions), he and Thomas could become of the best quarterback-tight end combinations in the NFL. Despite being plagued with injury (a factor that could plague how much he earns in the off-season), Thomas reeled in 12 touchdowns along with 489 receiving yards. Combine that with the possibility the Raiders add a talent such as Alabama wide-out Amari Cooper as they own the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and the offensive foundation could be laid for the plagued franchise for years to come — with Khalil Mack in the picture, the 21st ranked defense could also seen an uptick in production.
In regards to the money scenario, if Thomas truly plans to wretch up his price tag so the Broncos will stray away from him, ponying up to a team that has the money to meet his demands is a smart idea — according to several salary cap-based websites, the Oakland Raiders will have close to $70 million in cap space.
Of course, free agency is a long ways from now, but if Thomas heads to the Bay we could be seeing the Raiders FINALLY be a threat in the AFC West.
Somewhere in heaven, Al Davis is smiling right now.
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