The Denver Broncos created a $22.6 million surplus in their salary cap by letting go of players and renegotiating other contracts. Instead of spending the money right away, Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post suggests saving most of it for next year.
“Here’s one path forward: Keep most of the remaining money and don't touch it until 2025,” Gabriel expressed in his March 17 column. “The NFL permits teams to carry over cap space. Denver had about $10 million carried over until this year, when it dropped to less than $1 million.”
Over The Cap reports that the Broncos have the 11th largest available cap space eight days into the 2024 league year. However, if they use all eight picks, it would cost around $4 million to sign their draft picks.
“For estimation purposes, assume Denver has $16 million to work with now. They will sign more players, but it’s unlikely they will offer big, flashy contracts at this point. … Take $10 million and consider it as if you’re actually reducing $63 million of (Russell) Wilson’s dead cap rather than $53 million,” Gabriel added.
2 Reasons Why Saving Most of Their 2024 Cap Space Benefits the Broncos
GettyBroncos offensive guard Quinn Meinerz
Firstly, letting their extra cap space flow into 2025 gives the Broncos more leeway to offer contract extensions to their key players. “Save as much of it as you can and spend it next year on mega-extensions for Pat Surtain II and Quinn Meinerz,” Gabriel wrote in the same March 17 article.
After his first three seasons with the Broncos, Surtain II is eligible for a contract extension. His Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro selections put him in a position to demand significantly more money than his $1,055,000 base salary in 2024.
They have the option to keep him for the 2025 season by exercising his $19,802,000 fifth-year option on or before May 2. This option gives them time to finalize a long-term agreement.
Meinerz will play under the final season of his four-year, $4.7 million rookie-scale contract. Spotrac reveals that the former Wisconsin-Whitewater standout played 96.5 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in 2023.
Pro Football Focus gave the offensive guard an impressive 83.7 overall grade and an 88.7 mark in run blocking. As PFF’s Thomas Valentine stated in his January 25 article, “The Broncos running game averaged just four yards per carry in 2023, but Meinerz was nothing but a positive force for the team. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Meinerz proved there aren’t many who can do it better.”
Secondly, Denver can utilize the surplus in the cap this season to re-sign their 2024 free-agent signings. “Prepare for increased cap hits from 2023 free-agent additions like Mike McGlinchey, Ben Powers, and Zach Allen. After converting all of their salaries to bonuses for 2024, their combined cap charges this year are a low $21.65 million. As of now for 2025, the trio combines to cost $61.03 million,” Gabriel suggested.
Broncos Insider Expresses Concern About Soaring Salary Cap
GettyBroncos cornerback Pat Surtain II
While the Broncos obtained some relief when the salary cap increased from $224.8 million to $255.4 million, Denver Sports’ Andrew Mason pointed out a grim reality with the substantial increase.
“But here’s the catch: everything becomes more expensive,” Mason shared with co-host Cecil Lammey on the February 24 episode of the “Orange and Blue Today” podcast. “For example, if you start looking at the horizon at Pat Surtain’s eventual contract. … You see that cap rising, quarterback costs rise, every premier player sees their price tag rise.”
As a one-time All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowler, Surtain deserves to get paid top dollar. Therefore, his contract extension exceeds Jaire Alexander’s $21 million annual average value and trumps Denzel Ward’s five-year, $100.5 million deal with the Cleveland Browns.
Aside from Surtain, who he feels could easily command a $25 million annual salary, Mason urged the Broncos to consider selecting a quarterback in the April 2024 rookie draft. “By the way, quarterbacks get more expensive, which is another reason why you gotta look at the draft and ideally find that cost-control quarterback for the next five years,” he added.
