NFL free agency hasn’t even started yet and the Denver Broncos have already made a flurry of roster moves.
Parting ways with quarterback Russell Wilson put the team in a salary cap hole, but the team has made progress climbing out of that hole.
The team restructured the contracts of wide receiver Tim Patrick (saving $8.375 million) and right tackle Mike McGlinchey (saving $11 million). Denver also cut safety Justin Simmons (saving $14.5 million) and tight end Chris Manhertz (saving $2.12 million). The Broncos then agreed to trade receiver Jerry Jeudy to the Cleveland Browns (saving $12.987 million).
Denver has also made a few in-house deals, most notably re-signing safety P.J. Locke to a two-year deal. Additionally, the team brought back offensive lineman Quinn Bailey, linebacker Jonas Griffith and wide receiver Michael Bandy on one-year contracts.
So, where does that leave the team going in free agency this week?
The exact details of P.J. Locke’s contract are not yet known, but it’s been reported as a $7 million deal. If split evenly over two years, Locke would have a $3.5 million cap hit this season (that’s not a likely scenario, but just for the sake of an example, we’ll go with it).
Before accounting for the Locke contract, OverTheCap.com estimates the Broncos have $30,575,445 in available salary cap space. Subtracting $3.5 million for Locke would drop that total down to $27,075,445, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the safety’s contract has a lower cap hit in 2024 than in 2025.
We won’t know the team’s exact cap space until the details of Locke’s contract are revealed, but it seems safe to guestimate that Denver has north of $27 million available going into NFL free agency.
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