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The Broncos have hired Rich Hurtado as their new vice president of football administration, president of football operations/general manager John Elway announced Wednesday. Hurtado will be responsible for managing the team’s salary cap and negotiating and structuring player contracts.
Before joining Denver’s staff, Hurtado worked for 11 years as an agent/executive for Creative Artists Agency. While at CAA, Hurtado worked with Todd France, managing 70 NFL clients. He helped negotiate over $1 billion worth of free agent deals and more than $1 billion in contract extensions.
As an agent, Hurtado helped negotiate contracts for former Broncos including cornerback Aqib Talib (2014), wide receiver Demaryius Thomas (2015) and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (2016). He will now be tasked with trying to re-sign safety Justin Simmons this offseason.
Simmons is represented by France, who Hurtado worked with at CAA. That could lead to an interesting showdown this offseason between the two former co-workers.
League exec on Hurtado vs. Todd France upcoming battle royal regarding Justin Simmons' new contract: "That should be interesting. Rich was really good at his job for CAA and a real stickler and hard ass in negotiations." #Broncos
— Ryan O'Halloran (@ryanohalloran) January 29, 2020
Before becoming an agent, Hurtado spent four years with the Eagles working with the team’s football administration department. He is replacing former salary cap guru/contract negotiator Mike Sullivan, who was not re-signed by Denver when his contract expired earlier this year.
Simmons wants a long-term deal but he is open to a one-year franchise tag if that’s what it takes to remain with the Broncos for the 2020 season.
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