Many of the Broncos’ highest-paid players enter 2020 on prove-it type deals

DENVER — There’s a whole bunch of money on the table in 2020 for the Broncos’ highest-paid players.

A whopping $71.48 million, to be exact.

In terms of 2021 cap figures, 2020 could very well be the last season in Denver for seven of the 10 highest-paid Broncos. At least their contracts would permit that.

In fact, those seven player’s contracts wouldn’t just allow 2020 to be their final season in Orange & Blue, their contracts add significant pressure on each and every one of them for the upcoming season.

Von Miller, Ja’Wuan James, A.J. Bouye, Kareem Jackson, Jurrell Casey, Bryce Callahan and Nick Vannett—seven of Denver’s 10 largest cap hits scheduled for 2021—are set to be major pieces of the Broncos for the future, at least financially.

Yet every single player mentioned above has little to no dead cap in their contract after the 2020 season—meaning the Broncos could easily move on from each player with little-to-no financial burden. That makes 2020 a prove-it year for each player. And with seven of the 10 highest-paid players, in terms of 2021 cap hit, attempting to show their worth for the future, it makes 2020 the ultimate prove-it year for the Broncos.

As it stands, the Broncos are set to have these seven players account for $87.3 million against the cap in 2021. While the exact salary cap for 2021 won’t be known until next offseason, those seven players would account for a whopping 44 percent of the 2020 cap—nearly half of the Broncos’ cap.

Yet, if Denver moved on from all seven players, which would be highly unlikely, they would only have $15.8 million in dead cap. That would free up nearly $71.5 million in cap space for John Elway and Co. for the 2021 season.

Now, of course, it isn’t an all or nothing proposition. Elway and the Broncos could pick and choose who to keep and who to move on from out of these seven. Denver could easily move on from all five of their highest-paid cap hits set for 2021.

Moving on from Von Miller would save the Broncos $18 million in cap space, while only costing $4.2 million in dead money. Ja’Wuan James, Denver’s second-largest 2021 cap hit, would free up $8 million in cap space while counting for $6 million in dead cap.

Elway got two steals in the offseason in Casey and Bouye; not just with their great values in their respective trades, but also with their contracts. Bouye and Casey wouldn’t cost the Broncos a single dollar in dead cap and would free up $13.5 million and $12.3 million in 2021 cap space, respectively.

Jackson, the team’s fourth-largest 2021 cap hit, would free up $10 million in cap space, while only costing $3 million in dead money.

Financially, Denver can’t move on from their sixth, seventh and eighth-largest 2021 cap hits—Graham Glasgow, Melvin Gordon and Bradley Chubb—but financially they could say goodbye to their ninth and tenth largest cap hits—Callahan and Vannett.

In fact, Callahan—who has yet to step on the game field for the Broncos despite signing over a year ago—would free up $7 million in cap space for Denver while only accounting for $1.7 million in dead cap. Moving on from Vannett would save the Broncos $2.7 million in cap space, while only carrying $875,000 in dead money.

Comparing these types of savings to 2020 and 2019 sheds light on how this upcoming year will be a prove-it year like no other.

For 2020, only two of the top four cap hits carry less dead money than cap hit, while six of the top 11 largest cap hits have more dead money. However, only four of the 11-largest cap hits have a contract that would make sense to cut in order to save money. That number is nearly flipped for 2021.

In 2019, three of Denver’s top four cap hits carried more dead money than actual cap hit. In 2021, not a single player in the top five has more dead cap than cap hit.

Of course, the Broncos don’t want to move on from these seven players after this year. In an ideal world, all seven would play to the potential of their contracts and prove to Elway and Co. that they are worth every penny in 2021.

However, ideal worlds are tough to come by in the NFL. But for the Broncos—certainly not these seven players—they’ve got the contracts working in their favor.

The contracts tell a simple message to the players: Prove it or move it.