The official start of NFL free agency (March 13) is nearly one week away and the Denver Broncos still have work to do to get under the salary cap.
When the Broncos have some cap space to spare, the team will undoubtedly re-sign some of their in-house free agents, but Denver won’t be able to keep all of them.
The Broncos’ five biggest free agents this spring are arguably center Lloyd Cushenberry, linebacker Josey Jewell, tight end Adam Trautman, safety P.J. Locke and kicker Wil Lutz. Denver seems likely to lose a few of them.
Trautman and Lutz shouldn’t be too difficult to re-sign, but Cushenberry is expected to draw serious interest on the open market. The Broncos probably can’t afford to match the kind of offers Cushenberry will receive from other clubs.
The markets for Jewell and Locke are less certain. Jewell is a proven starter so he should draw decent interest. Locke only has eight career starts on his resume, so that might make it easier to bring him back.
As Denver prepares for the start of free agency, Cushenberry, Jewell and Locke appear to be the club’s three in-house free agents with the biggest risk of leaving the team for a better offer elsewhere.