Contract talks with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and tight end Julius Thomas are on hold as the Denver Broncos focus on football.

The price of business is going up with the team’s top two receivers. Julius Thomas leads the NFL with nine touchdown receptions and Demaryius Thomas has a team-high 39 receptions with six touchdowns and an average of 17 yards per catch.

The 22nd overall pick in the 2010 drat, Demaryius Thomas turns 27 on Christmas Day and is regarded as one of the best at his position in the NFL. But that puts him in a different startosphere in contract talks. Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Detroit Lions’ All-Pro Calvin Johnson are playing on deals worth more than $100 million.

Head coach John Fox, who knows what a great receiver looks like having coached Steve Smith with the Carolina Panthers, recently praised Demaryius Thomas for his work ethic.

“He’s not afraid to work hard,” Fox said, “… and he’s a tremendous young person. He wants to be great, and he’s willing to pay the price to make it happen.”

And the price to retain him will be steep.

But with quarterback Peyton Manning set to cost $21.5 million against the salary cap next season — and Julius Thomas, Wes Welker, cornerback Chris Harris, safety Rahim Moore and linebacker Brandon Marshall to pay, with linebacker Von Miller due to hit the open market after 2015 — there are difficult decisions ahead in Denver.

The cap does gain relief with $12 million in dead money from Champ Bailey’s deal off the books, which at least represents a starting point for the Broncos.

General manager and vice president John Elway first opened contract talks in the offseason but the sides have not closed the gap. The tandem caught 157 passes and 26 touchdowns last season when the Broncos set multiple records, and could exceed those totals in 2014.

Julius Thomas could be set for a standoff with the Broncos along the lines of the dispute between the New Orleans Saints and Jimmy Graham, who was designated the team’s franchise player at tight end but wanted to be viewed as a wide receiver based on the role he plays in the Saints’ offense. An arbiter ruled Graham would be classified as a tight end.

Ultimately Graham, who led the NFL with 16 TD catches in 2013, signed a four-year, $40 million deal that made him the league’s highest-paid tight end. The deal paid him $12 million up front and gives him another swing at free agency at age 31.

In July, Elway said Thomas was not due a contract of that magnitude. But by not getting a deal done, the Broncos might find out otherwise.

Julius Thomas is 26 — he turns 27 in June 2015 — and at his physical prime. But he had played in only 23 games entering the season, and likely wanted a chance to solidify his resume and hush talks of the former Portland State basketball player being a project. All-Pro recognition would certainly do the job.

At issue for Julius Thomas is the value of the franchise tender, the one-year deal given players with the designation, is about 60 percent of what wide receivers make. When tag values under the $133 million cap were announced in March 2014, wide receivers were at $12.312 million and tight ends $7.035 million.