It’s time for some power rankings.
With three weeks to go before training camp, I decided to rank the Broncos by how valuable they would be in a trade. Remember, this isn’t a list of the 15 players most likely to be traded, and it doesn’t leave out players who are unlikey to be traded. It’s simply ranking which players would bring the biggest return if the Broncos decided to trade them.
Trade value is determined just as much by the contract as the player. If a B-minus player is available on a $2 million contract and an A-minus players is available for $15 million, the first player may be more valuable in a trade.
I included the contract that the new team would take on if the Broncos traded the player. They are different than the cap hits the Broncos will take on if they keep the player, because Denver has already paid the signing bonus and that alters the numbers. Take Ben Powers for example. The Broncos just gave Powers a four-year, $51 million contract. But $13 million of that money was a signing bonus, which the Broncos already paid, so the new team would take on a four-year, $38 million contract, a relative bargain. The Broncos would still be on the hook to account for that $13 million against the cap, which is part of the reason why the Broncos almost certainly won’t trade Powers, but—to be very, very clear—we’re ranking what the Broncos could get in return, not whether it’s a good idea or not.
The other catch with the contracts is that a significant portion of the money would not be guaranteed, so teams will have the ability to get out of the deals early. For example, Randy Gregory would cost his new team $53 million over the four remaining years of his deal, but his new team could also release him after this season for a total cost of $14 million. So Gregory’s deal could be $14 million over one year, $28 million over two years, $40.5 million over three years or $53 million over four years. The new team could get out of the contract at any time. I included the options for the players below.
Lastly, about half of these contracts have bonuses. I didn’t include them because they are complicated, take some projection and sometimes aren’t reported accurately or at all. Most of those bonuses max out at a million dollars per year, so they wouldn’t change the numbers very much anyway.
Without further ado, here are the 15 most valuable trade assets on the Broncos’ roster.
15 – LB Alex Singleton
1 yr, $5 million, or 2 yrs, $7.49 million, or 3 yrs, $11 million
Singleton sneaks onto this list thanks to a contract that would make him the 20th highest-paid inside linebacker in the NFL. The big-money linebackers are typically the guys who can take away the middle of the field in the passing game, but getting a guy who finished fourth in the NFL with 165 tackles last season for less than $4 million per year is a bargain.
14 – OT Cam Fleming
1 yr, $1.8 million
Fleming stepped into the Broncos’ starting lineup for 15 weeks last season, and you could make the case he was their most valuable lineman. But when free agency started, nobody offered Fleming a starting job, despite some projections that he could make close to $10 million per year on a short-term contract. Now Fleming is back in Denver and could be a trade target for a team that loses a tackle.
13 – WR Tim Patrick
1 yr, $8 million, or 2 yrs, $17.5 million
Patrick is tough to place on this list because he’s only 11 months removed from tearing his ACL. Still, he’s a reliable target who finished in the top 45 in receiving yards among wideouts in the two seasons before the injury. His contested catch rate is among the highest in the league. His $8 million price tag doesn’t make him a bargain, but it does make him a valuable asset.
12 – S Caden Sterns
2 yrs, $2 million
A starting-caliber safety with two years left on a rookie contract would bring plenty of suitors. Sterns is lower on the list than some of the Broncos’ other rookie-contract starters because of his injury history, but he’d still garner big-time interest.
11 – TE Greg Dulcich
3 yrs, $3.5 million
The extra year of control bumps Dulcich in front of Sterns. Dulcich dealt with injuries last season, but when he was on the field, he was among the best rookie tight ends in the league. He doesn’t project as a great blocker, but if he keeps improving as a receiver, he could fly up this list.
10 – CB Damarri Mathis
2 yrs, $1.9 million, or 3 yrs, $3 million
A speedy, 24-year-old starting cornerback should come with a hefty price tag, especially with three years of control left on his rookie contract. His slow start after replacing Ronald Darby last season was quickly wiped away by some great performances that locked him into the starting lineup for 2023. Mathis could be near the top of this list by the trade deadline, and he might deserve to be higher right now.
9 – OG Ben Powers
3 yrs, $25.5 million, or 4 yrs, $37.5 million
If the Broncos trade Powers this season—they won’t—Powers’ new team would get a bargain contract thanks to his $2 million salary in 2023. Over three years, his salary would be $8 million per year, making him the 19th highest-paid guard in the league. For a 26-year-old who may be the strongest guard in the league, that contract would be expensive to trade for.
8 – RT Mike McGlinchey
3 yrs, $35 million, or 4 yrs, $52 million, or 5 yrs, $69 million
Like Powers, McGlinchey’s contract would come at about a 20% discount for his new team since the Broncos already paid the $17.5 million signing bonus. (Also like Powers, the Broncos aren’t trading McGlinchey.) If McGlinchey played out the full deal with his new team, he’d rank 23rd in average salary at the start of the deal, and he’d probably be outside the top 30 by the end of it.
7 – LT Garett Bolles
1 yr, $13.8 million, or 2 yrs, $29.8 million
It’s tough to decide what order to put Powers, McGlinchey and Bolles in, but I’m going with Bolles as the highest trade value because he’s a left tackle, and at his best, he’s been the best of the bunch. The key will be playing at his best again this season—which we haven’t seen since 2020—after returning from a broken leg. The injury shouldn’t be a concern, though. And calling it a one-year deal means there’s little risk in a trade.
6 – DE Zach Allen
2 yrs, $17.5 million, or 3 yrs, $30.2 million
Two years of cheap play make Allen the best value for any team trying to trade for one of the Broncos’ recent free-agent signings. The third year—which essentially amounts to a $13 million team option—adds even more value. Allen is still at least a step away from his ceiling as a player, but he’s already much better than this contract would suggest.
5 – EDGE Frank Clark
1 yr, $1.2 million
Incentives could bump up his salary to more than double this number, but because most of the one-year contract is a signing bonus, Clark would be extremely cheap if traded. If the season goes south quickly for the Broncos, Clark figures to be the most-likely candidate to move in a trade deadline deal. A playoff contender should be tempted by the NFL’s third all-time leading playoff sacker.
4 – OG Quinn Meinerz
2 yrs, $2.3 million
Placing Meinerz on this list was tricky. The three other linemen on the list are better players as of today. But if Meinerz takes a step in pass protection—remember that he didn’t play a snap in a two-point stance until he got to the NFL—there’s no reason he couldn’t be the best of the group by the end of the year. Factor in the two years on a rookie deal, and I decided to put Meinerz at the top of the bunch, which might be leaning too much on projection.
3 – FS Justin Simmons
1 yr, $14.4 million, or 2 yrs, $28.9 million
Denver’s three-time All-Pro safety and the NFL’s reigning interceptions leader would come at a hefty price. His salary with his new team would make him the eighth highest-paid safety in the NFL, a bargain for arguably the best safety in the NFL. The Broncos won’t shop a cornerstone player who still has a handful of years left in the tank, but they would get a great return if they did.
2 – WR Jerry Jeudy
2 yrs, $15.7 million
Simmons and Jeudy could probably be swapped on this list, but I’ve got Jeudy higher because his contract would cost half as much as Simmons’. Jeudy showed why he was a top-15 pick in the final two months of his age-23 season and could be poised for a true breakout performance in 2023. Even if he doesn’t, Jeudy has proven to be a solid No. 1 option.
1 – CB Pat Surtain II
2 yrs, $6.1 million, plus fifth-yr option
Surtain takes the top spot on this list without any conversation. He’s the best cornerback in the game and he just turned 23. He has two years left on his rookie deal, and even the fifth-year option that will kick in for 2025 will be a steal given what he’s shown in his first two seasons. If the Broncos trade Surtain, which they won’t, they’d likely receive multiple first-round picks in return.
