Broncos Urged to Pursue Up and Coming Defensive Star From NFC East

“… the depth along the defensive front is a concern,”  Ballentine wrote. “Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers are good, but they’re both sort of 5-technique hybrids. D.J. Jones is a more pure defensive tackle, but the 29-year-old isn’t getting any younger. Adding Milton Williams would go a long way toward completing the group. He’ll be 26 next season and is putting together his best year yet with five sacks.”

Ballentine has sang Williams’ praises before, floating him as a potential target in free agency for multiple teams over the last month, including the New England Patriots.

“Milton Williams will be one of the best interior defenders on the market and his age (25) should make him a popular target,” Ballentine wrote on December 4.

Williams Having Breakout Season For Philly

Williams is having a breakout season for the NFL’s best defense, where he’s played in all 15 games with 6 starts, 20 tackles, 5.0 sacks, 7 TFL, 8 QB hits, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.

The Eagles selected Williams in the third round (No. 73 overall) out of Louisiana Tech in the 2021 NFL draft and he’s just 1.5 sacks from matching his sack total for the first 3 seasons of his career — and he’s doing it in the final year of his 4-year, $5.11 million rookie contract.

While most teams would like to keep a player like Williams on the roster, that’s not really an option for the Eagles, who could also lose stars like inside linebacker Zack Baun and edge rusher Josh Sweat in free agency.

The biggest reason the Eagles won’t entertain paying Williams is likely an eye to the near future when they will almost certainly have to break the bank for 2023 first round pick Jalen Carter, who plays the same position as Williams.

It’s not outside the realm of possibility that when the Eagles finally do pay Carter — likely following the 2025 season — it will have to be a deal that would make him the highest-paid interior defensive lineman in NFL history. That would mean a deal that could surpass the 5-year, $158.75 million contract extension with $95 million guaranteed signed by Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones before the 2023 season.

Williams Will Get Considerable Raise in 2025

Theoretically, Williams should garner much more than the $5.5 million total of his current contract in just the first year of his new deal. In 2024, the average salary of the Top 20 interior defensive linemen in the NFL was $23.45 million, according to Over the Cap.

Being conservative and understanding Williams isn’t going to approach the type of money headed Carter’s way, he could very well land a contract in the range of $15 million to $20 million per seasons — the Broncos could start with an offer of 3 years, $40 million and see where things go from there.