Broncos place Ja'Wuan James on non-football injury list; dispute with NFLPA may be coming
May 7—The Broncos officially placed right tackle Ja'Wuan James on the non-football injury list Friday, according to the transaction wire, ending his 2021 season and time in Denver. James suffered a torn Achilles during a workout Tuesday away from the facility.
James has only played 63 career snaps for the Broncos, after signing a four-year, $51,000,000 contract with Denver in 2019. He played in only three games in 2019 and opted out in 2020. The Broncos have paid him $17 million of his contract so far.
According to a league memo sent out the day after James' injury, because the injury did not occur at the team's facility, the Broncos are not obligated "to provide salary continuation during the year in which the injury was sustained."
James was set to make $10.58 million next season.
This may lead to a messy situation with the NFLPA, which has been vocal about wanting players to skip voluntary offseason workouts. The NFLPA fired back at the NFL on Thursday saying the NFL's memo "was gutless to use a player's serious injury as a scare tactic to get you to come running back to these workouts."
Whether or not the Broncos decide to pay James or not, the bigger question is who will replace him? Calvin Anderson is the leading candidate right now, as he was the backup right tackle all of last season. But the Broncos are also meeting with free agents Dennis Kelly and Bobby Massie, and will likely meet with others, too.
