Broncos give Pat Surtain a $5M raise with good chance for $10M bump

Pat Surtain II is a great cornerback, perhaps the best in the NFL, most football experts agree. Still, the Broncos didn't have to do this.

Two years after extending Surtain's contract for four years at $24 million a year, the Broncos delivered a goodwill gesture by giving the cornerback a $5 million raise for the 2026 season, plus added another $5 million incentive he would receive if he earns either the Pro Bowl OR first- or second-team All Pro honors in 2026.

Surtain has already been a Pro Bowler or All Pro each of the past four seasons so there's a good chance he will wind up with a $10 million raise.

"We talked about it before but I think it's a testament to the ownership and the Broncos as an organization,'' Surtain said Tuesday night at Top Golf in Centennial where he was raising money for his Pat Surtain II Foundation that benefits underserved youth.

Talk about a day of giving back and receiving.

"I want to be here, I want to be a Bronco and they have invested in me as well as much as I've invested in them,'' Surtain said.

While such team generosity is not completely unprecedented -- the Broncos' previous regime of Joe Ellis and John Elway bowed to agent Fredrick Lyles and gave cornerback Chris Harris Jr. a $3.06 million one-year raise in 2019 -- a team giving a raise to a player already under contract is unusual.