Denver Broncos are hard at work making roster moves as they work to give themselves some cap flexibility for when the free agency frenzy begins.
Denver Broncos Looking to Open Up Space
The Denver Broncos are in a tough situation regarding their need to make the necessary saves in way to be closer to have $15 million available that they can use to spend on the roster.
The team traded Jerry Jeudy to Cleveland Browns and in exchange they will be allowed to receive a fifth-and sixth-round draft pick in exchange for the veteran wideout.
A year after picking up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract, Denver will save themselves $12.9M in cap space he was owed. But, there still is work to be done because of Russell Wilson’s pending release. The team announced earlier this week that Wilson would be released from the team once the new league year begins on Wednesday.
While $39M of Wilson’s salary for 2024 is already guaranteed, the Broncos will avoid the additional $37M 2025 salary from becoming guaranteed when they released him.
Denver only has about $18.4M in cap space, so if they want to be in the competitive market, they have to free up a lot of space and make some drastic moves in their roster. Before the Jeudy trade, the team had saved $35M by releasing Justin Simmons and Chris Manhertz, as well as coming up with new deals for Tim Patrick and Mike McGlinchey.
Since then, the Broncos have saved about $50M in salary cap space.
With multiple transactions, contract restructures and trades within the past five days, the Broncos now have cleared nearly $50 million in salary cap space while adding two draft picks leading into to the start of the league year. https://t.co/NB2QZFOyRk
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 9, 2024
The situation isn’t ideal for a team that went 8-9 last season, but Denver kind of put themselves in this predicament when Sean Payton decided Wilson wouldn’t be on the team when he made the decision to bench him for the final two games of the season. It’s presumed that the team will try to explore a cheaper option for quarterback as the nine-time Pro Bowl Quarterback will explore the free agent market.