What the Broncos could do with their remaining cap space

The Denver Broncos have dealt with a whirlwind of free agent departures, trades and acquisitions since they last played in and won Super Bowl 50. The Broncos have seen Peyton Manning retire, Brock Osweiler and 12 other players from the Championship roster leave via free agency, trade, retirement or release. In response to those departures, general manager John Elway has regrouped.  He added All-Pro tackle Russell Okung to a low-risk bargain contract, added five more new players through free agency or trade and resigned five players to new deals or in Von Miller’s case, an exclusive franchise tag.

As the 2016 NFL Draft approaches the Broncos have limited cap space but have made room with Ryan Clady and his $10.1 million 2016 contract departure to add one or two more pieces to the roster, most likely another veteran quarterback. Another big name acquisition would be difficult as the team tries to get under the adjusted 2016 salary cap of $154,095,041, according to Spotrac.

The Broncos currently have $9,373,634 of cap space with the top 51 player’s contracts included. That includes dead money to the likes of released Louis Vasquez and retired Manning, as well as the $8.9 million recouped from Clady’s release, yet it does not include the Broncos projected draft class pool money that comes out to $6,339,366. With that number in mind, they have just $3,034,268 of cap space available to make more moves.

Basically, the Broncos have two high priorities as the season approaches. One is glaring and naturally getting national attention. Despite the Broncos acquisition of Mark Sanchez via trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for a conditional 2017 seventh-round draft pick, the team is adamant that they have not finished adding to the quarterback position.

Colin Kaepernick’s name continues to be linked to the Broncos after weeks of negotiations. Kaepernick is currently guaranteed to make $11.9 million dollars in 2016 and has reportedly refused to take any sort of pay cut. The Broncos, in turn, have reportedly claimed that they are willing to trade a fourth-round draft pick as compensation to the San Francisco 49ers and want to pay him around $7 million to play for them in 2016. The 49ers have also reportedly expressed no interest in paying Kaepernick to leave town for Denver.

Secondly, and likely to be more of a long-term and expensive commitment, is Miller’s contract. He has been exclusively franchised tagged this season, meaning he will play for the Broncos in 2016 but he is certainly seeking a big pay day. The tag will pay him $14,129,000 this year but his worth exceeds that after winning Super Bowl MVP honors and generally running wild on offensive tackles all season. While different reports have varied slightly, most come to the consensus that Miller is looking for a deal of over four years and north of $20 million per season with nearly 60 percent of it guaranteed. The Broncos are trying to convince him to play for slightly less but either way, it will cost them several more million dollars than the tag will pay him.

The addition of Kaepernick or the signing of Miller to a long term deal will cost the Broncos roughly $3-4 million separately. It would cost Denver around $7-10 million if both moves are made close to what Elway’s terms have reportedly been. Either way that simply is not in the current budget and the Broncos also still have free agents Ronnie Hillman, Andre Caldwell and others that are in the mix to come back to the team.

One way to add cap space was brought up by Field Yates of ESPN last week and detailed on Mile High Report April 7. He pointed out that wide receiver Demaryius Thomas has a clause that could convert any portion of his $13 million base salary in 2016 to a signing bonus, which could then be prorated over the last four years of his contract. If the Broncos used the entire portion as a signing bonus that would create $9.18 million in additional cap space and thus provide the Broncos with the needed money to sign both players above or go in another direction for quarterback and holes in the roster. It remains one of only a few options for the Broncos to add significant players at this point.

The Broncos were dealt immediate blows to the roster as Osweiler, Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan departed but have bounced back with shrewd but very viable signings like Okung. Now they sit with just a few more moves to make, but limited capital to do so. The fireworks are far from over but the 2016 NFL Draft may close doors to major free agent acquisitions. Elway and his limited back roll will have to continue to stretch in the coming few weeks.

*all contract figures produced by Spotrac unless otherwise noted