The three-year deal will include $26 million in fully guaranteed money. The Denver Broncos have their nose tackle.
With the news breaking on Sunday that the Denver Broncos agreed to terms with nose tackle D.J. Jones, we’ve since received some clarity on what the contract is going to look like. According to Adam Schefter, it will be a three-year deal worth $39 million with $26 million of that fully guaranteed.
This came less than a day after D.J. Jones posted a cryptic tweet about somebody telling you your value and having it be less than your worth. I guess that led to Denver upping their offer. The 30 year old is — for now — the 22nd highest paid interior defensive lineman in the league. While we don’t have the full contract details, I’d assume its more of a two-year deal with an out in the final year.
The deal is a moderate increase in pay from his previous three-year deal. Not bad for a two-down nose tackle who played in just over 40% of defensive snaps in 2024. The addition of several solid veterans, like Malcolm Roach and John Franklin-Myers, along the defensive line last season has afforded Jones the ability to be part of a solid rotation.
That freshness along the line helped it to an outstanding season. Sometimes its not about having elite players at every position, but having fresh legs at key positions throughout the entire game. That is kind of how Vance Joseph ran things last season in the trenches and it worked out very well.
With the nice increase in salary cap from the NFL this year and despite the Broncos still dealing with $32 million in dead money from Russell Wilson, they began free agency with $40.2 million in cap space. We won’t know the exact cap hit from Jones’ contract until the full details are released, but we can assume it’ll be a bit less than the $13 million per year average.