The Broncos’ offseason to-do list is shorter today than it was a week ago.
Denver over the first week of free agency signed nine players, retaining five of its own from 2024 and adding four free agents.
The Broncos hit on several of their positional targets, used up a big chunk of their roughly $41 million in cap space and currently check in among the top 10 league-wide in total free agency spending (sixth) and total guarantees (eighth) according to OvertheCap’s tracking.
Denver still needs a running back, to be sure. It doesn’t currently have a punter on the roster. There will almost certainly be a few more moves coming over the next few weeks.
Mostly, though, the rest of the offseason for coach Sean Payton, general manager George Paton and company will be about the draft and then about addressing several extension candidates already on the roster.
With all that in mind, here’s a quick re-set of the Broncos’ salary cap situation and what will impact the picture over the rest of the offseason.
How much cap space do Broncos have after free agency?
Denver’s likely going to be sitting around $8 million to $10 million in cap space once the details of safety Talanoa Hufanga’s three-year deal worth up to $45 million are known.
That means the Broncos used up more than $30 million in cap space over the past week.
Assuming Hufanga’s deal is structured similarly to the others, each of Denver’s four biggest contracts will check in with modest 2025 cap numbers, according to various sources plus NFLPA and OvertheCap data.
They look like this:
Evan Engram: $7.26 million
D.J. Jones: $6.6 million
Dre Greenlaw: $5.817 million
Denver added two void years to Jones’ three-year, $39 million deal to suppress the 2025 cap number a bit. Engram and Greenlaw do not have known void years on their deals.
Greenlaw’s contract could be seen as being essentially for one year and $11.5 million and then we’ll see after that. There’s no guaranteed money after the first year and Denver could release him early next offseason without incurring more than $4.33 million in dead cap charges. Of course, if Greenlaw is healthy and productive, that won’t likely be an issue.
Denver also took advantage of a $1.45 million “four-year qualifying player” benefit to give inside linebacker Justin Strnad a guaranteed one-year, $2.788 million deal but count him just $1.338 million against the cap.
Backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham carries a $4 million cap hit for the year while returning swing tackle Matt Peart ($2.75 million), new special teamer Trent Sherfield ($2.26 million) and long snapper Mitch Fraboni ($1.3 million) round out the 2025 cap charges added so far in free agency.
What other cap commitments are coming?
Denver could still make some other moves in free agency.
Four of their own free agents remain unsigned, among them Payton regulars in fullback Mike Burton and wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey. There’s also offensive lineman Quinn Bailey, who had played his way into a trusted reserve spot before breaking his leg during training camp last summer.
The Broncos will then need a net of about $3.2 million in cap space for their 2025 draft class based on their current set of seven picks.
Can Broncos create more cap space?
Yes, they can. Quite a bit, actually.
What’s important so far this offseason is not just what Denver has done, but also what it hasn’t.
The Broncos don’t have any known contract restructures — which create cap room in the present but kick charges into the future — so far this offseason.
That’s in part because they started the league year in a favorable position and thus didn’t have to move money around in order to get their early free agency work done.
There are other reasons, too.
The first is that Paton and Payton are clearly planning for the future and trying to keep their books relatively clean. That restraint combined with Russell Wilson’s dead money finally falling off the Broncos’ books after 2025 sets the club up to try to take full advantage of the coveted rookie quarterback window Denver’s got with Bo Nix.
Consider what spending in Denver’s quarterback room looked like with $53 million of Wilson’s dead money on last year’s books and the final $32 million this year:
2024: $66.11 million
2025 (currently): $40.23 million
2026 (currently): $13.08 million
The second reason is that Denver will naturally create cap space if/when it signs defensive tackle Zach Allen and wide receiver Courtland Sutton to extensions later this offseason.
Sutton is currently at $20.2 million and Allen $19.795 million for 2025 but each of those numbers could be approximately halved depending on the size and structures of potential extensions.
A potential extension for OLB Nik Bonitto would likely check in roughly cap-neutral or could bump his $5.696 million number up modestly depending on length and structure.
Then cap considerations can always come into play on whether to cut players or ask them to take a pay cut. Candidates there include cornerback Damarri Mathis (cap number $3.6 million), safety P.J. Locke ($5.19 million) and inside linebacker Alex Singleton ($6.913 million) once healthy.
If Denver stays on its current course, it has a chance of walking the line between spending fairly aggressively in free agency while protecting the longer-term flexibility and rookie-deal quarterback benefits that are finally coming into view.
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