Nearly as soon as the approximately one million-person Super Bowl 50 parade ended General Manager John Elway and Co. had to get back to work and ultimately were looking at some serious cap issues. Those issues led to several highly publicized departures but quietly the Broncos biggest leader in the locker room took one for the team.

In early March, as many Broncos headed to other organizations for truckloads of money, Ware compromised with Elway and reduced his salary by $3.5 million, lowering his cap hit to just over $8.5 million in 2016, the last year of his three-year contract.

“I feel like that’s what Elway did saying, ‘yes we lost a big leader in Peyton [Manning] but we still need our guy. We need our solid guy that is keeping our guys right.’ Making sure that the maturity on the team stays at a level to where everybody stays focused,” Ware said Monday of his pay cut. “He knows I’m not here for money, I’m here to win championships. I’m here to go over and beyond and build a legacy for the Denver Broncos. I think it was a smart move by everybody and I’m glad to still be here playing.”

Ware had an exceptional season, jumping out early and playing well but then missed weeks six, and 10-13 before once again impressing on the postseason run. He totaled 7.5 sacks in the regular season (4.5 in the team’s first four games) and 3.5 sacks in the playoffs. He also had 12 quarterback hits and a fumble recovery in the team’s three playoff games. Monday Ware acknowledged he brings much more than statistics these days to the roster.

“It was important for me to stay because when you sort of have changes in your career and then all of the sudden your first year you got nominated as a captain, your second year you’re nominated as a captain and you start being their leader in the locker room. That goes a long way in keeping everything in line, motivating guys in practice, things on the field but experience goes a long way.”

Ware can recover the $3.5 million through sack incentives over the 2016-17 season. According to Spotrac, he would receive $1.25 million for eight sacks, $2.5 million for nine, $3 million for 11 and $3.5 for 13.

“I knew with all the moves, free agency, guys unrestricted, restricted, I knew they were going to come at me and say, ‘DeMarcus you want to take a pay cut, you want to restructure?’ I welcomed it,” he said of the discussions with Elway. “I said, ‘whatever we need to do to keep me here.’ I was very involved with Elway talking back and forth with him. That’s why I like him as a general manager, you can talk to him and be man-to-man and say, ‘This is what we can do. This is what we can’t do.” Talk face-to-face and get it done.”

Ware is 33 years old and entering his 12^th NFL season. He remains in peak physical shape but understands he must conserve his energy for the season ahead, especially if he wants to recoup said $3.5 million. However, Monday he said he does not plan on his role changing among a stacked team of pass-rushers.

“My role is always to sack the quarterback, that is going to stay the same,” he said with his trademark smile. “Maybe the way we approach the season is, maybe instead of doing 50 plays in OTAs, I do 30. This is my 12^th year now, It’s not like I don’t know what to do, especially in Wade’s defense.”

He spoke highly of his teammates Shaquil Barrett, Shane Ray and Von Miller but did tell the front office during his restructuring that his presence in the locker room was still needed.

“I know that it’s that part of my career to where what I bring to the game is sort of that intangible thing of leadership and motivating guys and getting out there and playing when I can but also, you got guys like Shaq, you got guys like Shane that have been productive this year. One thing I sat and told them, I said, ‘I felt like those guys are ready but they also need that veteran leadership.’”

And he also added a sentiment that should scare the Broncos’ 2016 opponents.

“Me and Von and Shaq, all of us together, I think it’s going to be a better year than last year.”

The Broncos clearly have an uphill battle but after a two weeks of key players hitting the podium following the early days of OTAs to discuss the upcoming season, player departures and their prospects of repeating one thing is certain; they like who is left and Ware’s leadership will be even more crucial than the two previous seasons.

“I think that people ask me once Peyton left, Malik [Jackson] left, Danny Trevathan, ‘can we rebuild a team to sort of replace those guys to win a championship?’ I said, ‘yes’ because look at the guys who are right behind them,” He said earnestly. “We have everything in place for a repeat but the thing is it takes a lot of hard work and dedication and guys being disciplined this whole year to get that done and that is what we have to do.”