The Broncos spiced up a Saturday morning by agreeing to a four year, $102 million extension with Zach Allen. Per Mike Florio, here is what the contract table should look like:
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Per Game Roster Bonus | New Cash Paid | Running Cash Flow | Cap Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $2,490,000 | $11,375,000 | $510,000 | $13,750,000 | $13,750,000 | $14,375,000 |
| 2026 | $16,485,000 | $11,375,000 | $765,000 | $17,250,000 | $31,000,000 | $28,625,000 |
| 2027 | $22,350,000 | $7,625,000 | $765,000 | $23,000,000 | $54,000,000 | $30,740,000 |
| 2028 | $21,735,000 | $7,625,000 | $765,000 | $22,500,000 | $76,500,000 | $30,125,000 |
| 2029 | $24,480,000 | $4,800,000 | $1,020,000 | $25,500,000 | $102,000,000 | $30,300,000 |
Let’s take a look as to how this contract stacks up to his peers.
APY
At $25.5 million APY, Allen becomes the third highest paid interior defensive lineman in the league. I had previously scoped out a range between $20 million and $26 million that Allen’s next contract would likely fall under, and it’s no surprise to me that he hit almost to the upper bound here, short only to Milton Williams, the only IDL in this tier to get his contract in unrestricted free agency.
Guarantee Structure
Full guarantees at signing lag considerably behind Allen’s peers, ranking only 8th. Allen partially makes up for this by getting a strong expedited vesting guarantee for 2027 at $15.75 million. At about 58.8%, this doesn’t quite match the percentage of likely guarantees that Milton Williams, Nnamdi Madubuike, or Quinnen Williams got. But it is just enough to add some considerable friction against the Broncos from moving on, who would take a slightly negative pre-June 1 cap dollar hit in 2027 of $2.43 million.
Allen also agreed to considerable per game roster bonuses, equating to $45,000 per game in the first three seasons, and $60,000 per game in the fourth. However, he does offset this by getting guarantees, either full or vested, on the first two seasons, even if he still has to earn them.
Cash Flow
Allen’s $13.75 million in new money at signing before the extension begins ranks 5th among his peers. In the first season, pay is consistent with all of the upper tier (and even distant clubhouse leader Chris Jones), which is very tightly ranged between $31 million and $32 million. But for the rest of the contract, his running cash totals are consistent with the APY of being third in the league.
Overall thoughts
This contract may surprise some who don’t follow the Broncos closely, because Allen has been overlooked by fans and media as a whole since he arrived in Denver. He did make a 2nd team AP All Pro last season. But he has yet to get a similar honor from the PFWA, nor has he been named to a Pro Bowl, and he did not make the top 10 in Madden’s ratings. But this contract should force more to pay attention, especially given that he led the league in snaps among interior defensive linemen by four percentage points last season, and was particularly noted for his extraordinary ability to make contact with the quarterback.
I think this contract is aggressively fair for the Broncos. Allen trades off just a bit of early security compared to his peers, and in turn gets a contract that is competitive to what his market value likely would have been given the similarities to Milton Williams, who signed as a free agent. It’s clear that Denver highly values Allen as a key long term piece of the defense, and commensurately rewarded him for it.
With Allen extended, the questions don’t end at interior defensive line for Denver. John Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach are both on the final season of their contracts, and the Broncos will have to weigh how much they want to invest at that position, especially after also extending DJ Jones earlier this season. Third round rookie Sai’vion Jones should also be observed for any progress. Nik Bonitto is also the most likely Bronco to get the top priority for an extension, and if he’s waiting to see how Micah Parsons and Trey Hendrickson shape the top five edge rusher pay, that could mean that franchise tag caliber pay could be in play.
It is excellent to see the Broncos continue to be aggressively proactive in getting ahead of the market with their best players. I pushed for Patrick Surtain II to get a market shattering contract as soon as they were allowed to, they did so, and within less than a year afterward, he got named Defensive Player Of The Year…and amazingly is now only the 5th highest paid cornerback by APY. No contract negotiation can ever be guaranteed to be taken care of swiftly, but under George Paton and Sean Payton this is more likely to be the norm instead of the exception.