John Elway announced today that the Broncos extended qualifying offers to the following restricted free agents: right tackle Ryan Harris, kicker Matt Prater, defensive linemen Marcus Thomas and Kevin Vickerson and linebacker Wesley Woodyard. However, these tenders could mean little for all of the players except for Woodyard. One of the future Collective Bargaining Agreement clauses may eliminate restricted free agency for players with four or more years in the NFL. Only Woodyard has less than four seasons in the league.
However, if that isn't the case, the Broncos are covered at tackle with Harris, who started 11 games for the team and had an ankle injury. Prater missed the end of the season with an injury, which led the team to go with Steve Hauschka. Marcus Thomas has already let it be known that he will test out free agency.
According to Mike Klis, Prater and Woodyard had second-round tenders placed on them and the other three had $1.2 million "original round" tenders extended.