New Metric Reveals Broncos Are Getting Awful Value in OL Expenditures

With Week 2 in the books, Over the Cap has posted its player valuations. As always, OTC's player valuation is merely a guide but does serve as a way to consider whether or not teams are getting their money's worth for a particular player.

OTC's weekly valuations help to understand whether a given player is out-producing or under-producing based on his contract. The Denver Broncos are coming off a disappointing 35-33 loss to the Washington Commanders but did have a few bright spots.

Let's look at a few things about what OTC has to say about how much players are living up to their contracts.

Jonathon Cooper | | OLB | $27.8M

Cooper had a quality outing against the Commanders and it shows in his Week 2 valuation. He's getting an $895,168 APY salary and, for Week 2, vastly outperformed that.

Again, this shows the value that a draft pick contract has to a team. Whether or not Cooper can keep this level of play up remains to be seen, but as a seventh-round pick, the Broncos are paying him a small sum and when he plays well, the Broncos get a great return as a result.

Josey Jewell | ILB | $18.6M

Jewell gets an APY salary of $5.5M on his two-year deal and has been a steady performer. He stood out as the veteran who provided the most positive value based on his contract.

Jewell is still a player the Broncos may have to think about trading if things don't improve this season. It would be tough to move on from Jewell, who is doing good things, but a player with an expiring contract isn't somebody the Broncos can necessarily keep if they are eliminated from the playoffs.

Nik Bonitto | OLB | $17.7M

Though not a great all-around game for Bonitto, he did plenty of good things in the pass rush to result in a good return on the $1.45M APY salary from his draft pick contract.

Again, players on draft pick deals often will return a lot in investment. Bonitto needs to keep improving his run defense, but it's good to see him delivering more as a pass rusher.

Mike McGlinchey | OT | $4.316M

Once again, McGlinchey struggled and, thus, delivered a poor return on his contract. He is getting a $17.5M APY salary on a five-year deal and hasn't lived up to that salary thus far.

McGlinchey does have time to turn things around, but thus far, his play hasn't been encouraging. If he doesn't turn it around, Broncos fans may wonder if the team will ever get things settled at right tackle.

Garett Bolles | OT | $6.59M

After a solid Week One performance, Bolles didn't play as well in Week Two. The end result was he didn't deliver on the $17M APY salary he got from his four-year deal.

The difference between Bolles and McGlinchey is that it's easy for the Broncos to get out of Bolles' deal in 2024. With that said, Bolles has shown he can bounce back from rough outings, so perhaps he'll do so this coming week.

Ben Powers | OG | $3.291M

Ben Powers falls into the same category as Mike McGlinchey. Powers was expected to bring stability to the offensive line, but after Week 2, he isn't delivering much in return on his contract.

Given that Powers will be with the team through at least 2024, he needs to get it together. Otherwise, it's another case of the Broncos spending a lot of money and having nothing to show for it.

You can view the rest of OTC's valuation here and sort the list to see all Broncos players.

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