NFL Throws Broncos a Lifeline on Salary Cap Woes
The Denver Broncos -- and every NFL team, for that matter -- got some good news on Friday when the NFL announced the base salary cap for 2024.
The league set the base cap at $255.4M. Factors that led to this cap included the "borrowing" of future cap years because of the COVID-19 pandemic (which meant no in-person attendance in 2020 and, thus, reduced revenues) being "paid back" sooner, plus better-than-expected contracts for NFL broadcast rights.
What this means for the Broncos is they are in a better cap situation than they were when cap estimates were lower. As of Feb. 23, the Broncos would be $10.7M above the cap with 61 players under contract.
The Broncos won't have to make as many moves to become cap-compliant, though they will still have to make a few. But it may be possible to keep more players on the roster and not have to restructure multiple contracts.
At least one question remaining unanswered is how the Broncos will be allowed to handle Russell Wilson's contract should they decide to release him. The question is whether or not they can exercise his $22M option bonus before releasing him or if they will have to take the entire amount in 2024.
If they are allowed to exercise the option and then release Wilson, the Broncos can take a lower dead money charge with a post-June 1st designation, but a higher dead money charge in 2025. If not, they take a higher dead money charge in 2024 and a lower one in 2025.
It's not realistic to expect the Broncos to do a straight cut with Wilson, though a trade can't be ruled out. But how a post-June 1 cut would be handled would impact other decisions. It's also likely the Broncos will cut a couple of players for cap reasons. DJ Jones and Tim Patrick are the most likely candidates.
One should also expect the Broncos to trade at least one player. However, they may not have to trade multiple players, nor would they have to extend players such as Garett Bolles and Justin Simmons to lower their cap numbers.
Finally, it's less likely the Broncos will restructure the contracts of their top free agents signed in 2023. Had the base cap been lower, the Broncos might have had to restructure one or two of those deals.
The NFL's announcement doesn't mean the Broncos can be aggressive in free agency, though. They were aggressive last year, and teams that are aggressive one year tend to be quiet the following year. Don't expect the Broncos to be any different.
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