Broncos' Pros & Cons of Franchise-Tagging DL Dre'Mont Jones

Should the Denver Broncos franchise-tag Dre'Mont Jones?

The Denver Broncos have a dilemma on their hands with one of the key cogs of their defense as former third-round pick Dre'Mont Jones is set to become an unrestricted free agent when the new league year starts on March 15. Denver and Jones had reportedly started contract negotiations during last season, but talks broke off down the stretch.

The Broncos have made it known that keeping Jones around for the long haul has become paramount, and he has reciprocated his interest in remaining in Denver to a certain extent. It's been a little bit contentious at times, but the mutual interest is there. Part of that contention comes from the rumors that the Broncos would place the franchise tag on Jones if they couldn't come to a long-term agreement in time.

A few days ago, the NFL announced the salary cap figures for the 2023 season at $224.8 million as well as the franchise tag values for every position.

With Jones primarily playing as a 5-technique defensive end in the Broncos hybrid front under former defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Jones figures to have a franchise tag value of $19.7 million for the 2023 season, which is the average of the top-5 salaries at that position.

Jones has blossomed into a spectacular player over the past year and a half, but according to Spotrac, he has a market value of $7.2 million on an average per year basis. Given the tag number for Jones, that is not going to be nearly enough to retain his services.

So should the Broncos use the tag and try to get a more palatable deal done for both sides? Let's weigh the pros and cons.

Pros

In 2022, Jones showed a level of play that was near the top of the league as a pass rusher. According to Pro Football Focus, Jones was near the top-15 at the position when comparing his play to the 43 players that played at least 350 pass rush snaps over the course of last season.

Jones finished the year tied for 12th with seven sacks, sixth in hurries with 33, and 11th in pressures with 45. His 6.1 pass rush productivity percentage — which is formulated by adding all combined pressures, hurries, and sacks and dividing them by the number of snaps — was good for 10th in the league, and his 14.6 pass rush win rate percentage landed him at ninth overall.

What makes these numbers even more spectacular is the fact that Jones only played in 13 games last season, so other interior pass rushers had more opportunities to gather statistics, and they couldn't push his performance out of the top-15 in several categories.

If you limit the field down to the games that Jones played in (Weeks 1-14) as well as place a minimum of 243 snaps played, his numbers land right at the top five. His seven sacks were tied for sixth. His 33 pressures were the second-most, behind only Quinnen Williams, while Jones' 45 pressures were tied for fifth-most.

That is pretty impressive, considering almost half of that production came without another legitimate threat as pass rusher Bradley Chubb had been traded, and Randy Gregory missed most of that time due to injury. While there was some drop-off without a pass-rushing complement, Jones was still a highly productive player.

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Cons

Where things didn't go nearly as well was Jones' play as a run defender. Despite being in the backfield frequently as a pass rusher attacking the B-gaps, he got pushed around in the running game due to a lack of power at the point of attack.

Jones only finished the season with 26 total tackles, tied for 31st in the league among interior defensive linemen with at least 193 run defense snaps. His 18 run stops were tied for 34th, and his run stop percentage of 7.2 percent was tied for 35th.

In narrowing the field down to those same weeks as before, those numbers are a little bit better, but not nearly as much as his pass rush numbers. Jones was 16th in tackles, tied for 18th in run stops, and tied for 35th in run stop percentage.

Making this evaluation even harder is going back to the tape and trying to understand what the Broncos have tried to do with Jones as a player. He was used as a B-gap attacker from various alignments, but mostly coming across the face of the tackle from the 5-technique to place interior offensive linemen in conflict due to his first-step explosiveness and ability to shoot the gap. 

However, when placed as a 3-technique defensive tackle, Jones struggled to create separation in a phone booth, causing him to get overpowered in the run game. He lacks the lateral agility, twitch, and bend to come around the arc as a pass-rushing edge defender, so he has some limitations to how the Broncos can deploy him unless he brings more power to his game in the future.

About the Tag

Where things stand right now, the Broncos really need to find a way to extend Jones while also not breaking the bank for a second-tier interior defensive lineman. That's not meant to be a shot at him, but more of a realization of his skill set as a run defender as compared to others at the position. 

Players like the aforementioned Williams of the New York Jets, DeForest Buckner of the Indianapolis Colts, and Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs are both elite as pass rushers and run defenders, making them more valuable assets.

As a pass rusher, Jones compares favorably to many of the top defenders around the league, so there is still a lot of value to what he brings to the table.

Many players who have the tag placed on them use that as the starting point in negotiations moving forward. Players believe that if a club places the tag on them, that typically means that they value that player at that number.

However, there are certain situations where a player may be amenable to finding the middle ground in terms of negotiating a long-term deal with a lower average per year number based on their perception of themselves as well as the facts presented to them by the club, so long as the franchise tag figure is still guaranteed up front. This may be one of those instances.

Bottom Line

For Jones, the Broncos may be able to offer him a four-year deal worth somewhere around $60 million with $37 million guaranteed at signing. This essentially would guarantee the first two years of the deal at $15 million, with half of the third year guaranteed as well. The Broncos can also add in a clause that guarantees the second half of his third year based on his roster status on a certain date to incentivize Jones to continue playing well while also offering the Broncos a potential out of the deal to cull the cap hit in 2025 and beyond.

According to Spotrac's salary rankings, a deal of this magnitude would place Jones as the eighth-highest-paid interior defensive lineman in the league on an average-per-year basis, which aligns with his production as a pass rusher while also not overpaying for a player that has limitations both as a run defender and in how you can deploy him schematically.

Using the tag to extend the negotiating window with Jones is paramount for the Broncos, so long as they can maximize the value for them as well as do right by a player that is ascending quickly as one of the best pass rushers in the league. 

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