Broncos tackle Ryan Clady will need offseason shoulder surgery. (Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

Denver Broncos left tackle Ryan Clady will need to undergo shoulder surgery for an injury suffered in the team’s regular-season finale, The Denver Post’s Mike Klis reported Monday.

Clady is expected to miss most offseason activities, but he should be ready for the start of next season.

Clady enters into a somewhat uncertain future with the Broncos. He will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, but the Broncos are expected to slap their franchise tag on him if the two sides cannot agree to a long-term contract. If the Broncos use their free agent tag on Clady, it would cost them approximately $9.66 million next season.

In July, the Broncos and Clady halted discussions on a contract extension until after the season. At the time, the Broncos were willing to make Clady the third-highest paid offensive tackle in the league.

“Although we want to reach an extension with Ryan, we are unable to do so at this time,” John Elway, the Broncos’ executive vice president of football operations, told The Denver Post at the time. “Now, our complete focus as an organization must turn toward having a successful 2012 season.

“We’re looking forward to Ryan playing a key role on our team this year and hope he will be a Bronco for many seasons to come.”

Clady has started all 80 games of his five-year career with the Broncos. He was able to play through the shoulder injury during the Broncos’ 38-35 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Divisional playoffs.

Clady didn’t allow a sack for the first 20 starts of his career, the longest such streak since 1994, according to the Broncos’ website.

Ryan Clady and the Broncos have ended contract discussions until after the season. (Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos and left tackle Ryan Clady have agreed to table all discussions of a new contract until the 2012 season ends, The Denver Post’s Mike Klis reported Monday. Clady is in the final year of his five-year rookie contract that will pay him $3.5 million this season.

“Although we want to reach an extension with Ryan, we are unable to do so at this time,” John Elway, the Broncos’ executive vice president of football operations, told The Denver Post. “Now, our complete focus as an organization must turn toward having a successful 2012 season.

“We’re looking forward to Ryan playing a key role on our team this year and hope he will be a Bronco for many seasons to come.”

Klis reported that the Broncos’ last offer — five years and $50 million — would have made him the third-highest paid offensive tackle in the league.

Clady will protect the blind side of new Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning this season. In his four seasons in the NFL, he has blossomed into a star left tackle. He has started all 16 games in each of his four seasons with the Broncos. He didn’t allow a sack for the first 20 starts of his career, the longest such streak since 1994, according to the Broncos’ website.

Ryan Clady will reportedly not accept the Broncos’ five-year, $50 million contract extension. (Harry How/Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos have offered Ryan Clady a five-year contract extension worth $50 million, but the left tackle will reportedly seek a more lucrative offer on par with the extension Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas inked last summer, which pays him $11.5 million per year, according to a report Sunday evening from Mike Klis of The Denver Post:

[T]he league source said Clady and his agent, Pat Dye, are seeking a deal that would slightly exceed the contract of Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas…

A reported $28 million is guaranteed in the five-year extension for Clady. If he doesn’t re-sign, he would become a free agent at the end of next season and the Broncos could place a franchise-tag on him for $9.3 million.

Thomas is currently the richest left tackle in the league. Clady, whose $3.5 million salary next season makes him the 31st richest offensive tackle in the league, would become one of the five highest paid offensive tackles in the NFL if he were to accept the current contract extension being offered to him by the Broncos.

Thomas has been in the Pro-Bowl each season since being selected in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Klis said that the Broncos’ media guide lists Clady as one of “only five offensive linemen in NFL history who have started every game and made two Pro Bowls through their first four seasons.”