Sometimes all you need is a little perspective to realize you’ve made a mistake — and sometimes the best thing you can do is just learn from it.
The Denver Broncos and highly-paid defensive tackle D.J. Jones ended up squarely in the crosshairs this week as collateral damage after ESPN’s Bill Barnwell named the best “luxury” players in the NFL and singled out Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle T.J. Slaton as the NFL’s best 2-down defensive tackle.
For the uninitiated, a 2-down defensive tackle is typically a player who is on the field for first and second downs — when teams are typically more prone to run — and swapped out in obvious pass rush situations for more mobile players. Slaton, 6-foot-4 and 330 pounds, is essentially the definition of a 2-down defensive tackle and so is Jones, 6-foot and 305 pounds.
With the production for Slaton and Jones essentially carbon copies of each over the last 2 seasons, the only difference ends up being the money.
Slaton, who spent the first 4 seasons of his career with the Green Bay Packers, signed a 2-year, $14.1 million free agent contract with the Bengals on March 10 — the same day Jones signed a 3-year, $39 million contract with the Broncos.
“With two sacks and seven quarterback knockdowns over his four seasons in Green Bay, Slaton isn’t going to show off a series of nuanced pass-rush moves,” Barnwell wrote. “What he can do is control gaps and maul the player in front of him when asked. In 2024, Slaton’s 45.5% run stop win rate on the interior led all defenders, just ahead of highly compensated tackles D.J. Jones, Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner.”
When we view things from an analytics-based lens, it seems pretty clear the Broncos massively overpaid for Jones when a player like Slaton could have been available for a fraction of what they paid.
With so many big contracts hanging in the balance and Denver counting every dollar it can make you wonder why that decision was made — remember there is still a contract extension waiting for NFL All-Pro edge rusher and NFL Defensive Player of the Year finalist Nik Bonitto that could exceed $100 million.
Not Clear If Broncos Would Retain Jones for 2025
While the Broncos have received plenty of praise for their offseason moves to this point, those moves have almost been exclusively on the defensive side of the ball.
They spent a combined $109.5 million on 3 free agents, all on defense, with Jones, linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga, then used their first round pick (No. 20 overall) on Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron.
From the outside looking in, there was no indication Jones was going to be such a no-brainer to come back in 2025 after he played out the 3-year, $30 million contract he signed with the Broncos in March 2022.
There seemed to be no such confusion behind the scenes. Jones signed on the very first day teams and players could officially negotiate new contracts.
In his first 3 seasons with the Broncos, Jones started 48 of a possible 51 games with 122 tackles, 5.0 sacks, 9 pass deflections, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 9 TFL and 11 QB hits while playing approximately 47.5 percent of his team’s defensive snaps.
